If you have Wisteria sinensis or floribunda, prepare to do a LOT of pruning, hard pruning at least 2x/year. These vines are aggressive growers and, once established, will take over if neglected. If your patio arbor/trellis is near the house, I suggest you consider not planting it in the ground but keeping the vine in a really huge cement pot. I love wisteria, I have a floribunda, and I know how easily it can get out of control.

On the same topic (sort of), for years I've wanted to plant wisteria, but am afraid that the weather's too cool here.
I live in a cool, sometimes foggy area a couple of miles from the ocean in San Luis Obispo County.
Any opinions?

The roots run for yards and yards away from the plant and suckers come up all over. The plant is a nightmare. I'm still digging up suckers from one I dug out in fall '05. You get 10 days of bloom per year followed by 6 months of constant trimming so that it does not swallow your house.

My opinion is: Plant something else!

I have to agree with the previous posts. Wisteria is a very aggressive vine with aggressive root systems that have to be confined in some way. One the vine has matured, you really have to prune it to keep it in line. Though when in bloom hanging pendulously from an arbor, they are magnificent. On the campus of CSULB we have a huge wisteria arbor. But maybe try an climbing rose or something. Even they can get out of hand if not pruned, but not invasive like wisteria.

OK,OK -you've convinced me.
No wisteria for my garden.
And thank you, hoov and toyo, it's good to learn from another's experience.

Every word above is true, but right now, when I look out into the backyard, I get to look at this.... Is it worth the work to keep under control? Probably not, but....

{{gwi:517899}}

Beautiful Dave.
TFS

Here's mine,a mier sappling compared to Dave's.

{{gwi:517900}}

Kathi

Geez, all this wisteria bashing. My purple flowers are just fading, and my white flowers are getting ready to open. Maybe my two wisteria just aren't big enough to cause me problems yet. They've gotta be 10 years old. Yikes! I could always move I guess.
No one mentions the fragrance. That is pretty special too. Oh well, to each his own.

Deep roots,mine have got to be 10 years old at least as well.It's the most stubbornest plant i've ever owned.It's been cut back,moved,dug out and thrown out i thought and this year it finally bloomed.Last year it had maybe 3 to 6 flowers.I threatened it every year.LOL
Kathi

My lavender colored wisteria is 19 years old, and grows on an arbor over the back yard brick patio. It's in full bloom right now, and gorgeous, with a lovely scent and a gazillion bees. The roots are no problem, and yes, we do prune the unruly shoots, but it's no big deal. And it doesn't sucker. However, if you allow the seed pods to mature, they will pop open and send hundreds of the large seeds all over. And that's what makes the baby vines. So we cut the seed pods off, and the ones we miss we try to pick up the seeds which are easy to find. And if all else fails, we just pull out the babies. Definitely worth it!