Kill it now while you still have the chance.

I love wisteria...
I wouldn't want it that close to my house though, I would try to move it where it would have room to grow.
We had one at our old house that was climbing a cedar pole. The plan was to train it like a tree - but I left it when we moved.

I don't have this species, but I've seen them kept pruned [probably would need to be VERY diligent :)] and kept in a mounding form. They have a gnarled "trunk" with a lot of character....or, kill it while you can.

haha... I was wondering if someone would recommend slaughter.

Well, I have woods that backs up to my backyard. Wonder if I could plant it somewhere around the edge where it would still get some sunlight but would be out of my way. Any thoughts on that idea?

It will swamp the nearest tree. I have seen this thing eat an entire old growth cedar. It was stunning of course but it was oh, a tad bit aggressive.

I am also very temped by them but like you have no where to put one. I also considered the tree training but that would probably take some dedication.

Maybe you could set it up in a nice condo at the edge of town and visit it on Wednesdays and weekends.

It will tear all your balcony apart if you leave it where it is now. The one I had, and which I have been trying to kill for several years, managed to grow through a cement floor and twisted an iron fence railing before I had the chance to yank it out. I think the only way to grow it in a less destructive way is to build a whole walk for it. Make it in concrete pillars and I'm not joking about this. I have seen one growing very beautifully this way at a charm hotel here. A wisteria walk is a thing of beauty, but be prepared to prune it just about every day during the growing season. My experience with the one my neighbours grow and spills over to my side of the fence is that it can grow 1 foot a day and I'm not exagerating...

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Eduarda

Not the woods, not the woods! There used to be a log cabin near here that was totally covered in wisteria. When the property sold and the woods were bulldozed, the cabin was underneath. I'd passed by it many, many times and never knew it was there. A man bought the cabin, disassembled it and stored it on the ground under his MIL's shed. Termites and dry rot destroyed the wood and she eventually burned it, piece by piece, but I digress.

If you are determined to have wisteria, it can be planted in a lawn away from other plants where it can be trained on a stout post as described above, or on a 2" iron pipe. Then it must be pruned faithfully, not allowing it to reach out to grab trees or shrubs. I don't prune daily, but the runners on the ground are mowed over every time the grass is mowed. (Oh, it sends out runners, too? Yes, they can be 12 feet long and more, seeking something to climb.) After it blooms, seed pods need to be gathered and destroyed or the entire neighborhood will have wisteria and they'll all look at you.

{{gwi:625000}} Click to view. This wisteria grows on its own trunks though a hedge of boxwood.
The box was full sized before the wisteria came along.

Or, you can just let it run along your banister where eventually wisteria will cause the rail to buckle, then it will creep up over the house, prying off roof edges, siding and trim. Eventually the trunks will be the size of your wrists. It will take several years before you'll have to seek shelter elsewhere.

Nell

Fire. Kill it with fire.

Seriously, it's too much plant to be contained on a deck railing. If you want to move it, do it in the winter when it's dormant. Be sure to dig all the roots and leave nothing behind. Any sprig of a root will begin a new plant in the spring. I have it popping up all over one corner of the perennial bed. Today I pulled more runners from a plant that I cut down two years ago.

This thread is killing me,.LOL You would think this was some alien plant species sent to destroy the earth. hehe. I think I did see that movie late one Saturday night in the seventies.

It is such a shame that something so beautiful can be such a monster. I love the look of them and wish I could have one. I take all your experienced warnings to heart however and don't want to be forced to look for new shelter in the near future.
RFLOL

"Maybe you could set it up in a nice condo at the edge of town and visit it on Wednesdays and weekends."

Bluesunflower - that is the funniest thing I have read in years. Thank you so much for such a wonderful laugh!

Now my opinion of wisteria: I love it but would be really afraid to even have a pot of it just visit my yard. My grandmother decided she wanted some many years ago. She bought and set it out at the back of a "farm garage" type building in the far back yard. In just a few short years, it had taken over grandpa's small apple orchard and invaded all the tall oaks closeby. The old place was sold after their death and the whole area is covered in wisteria. It is amazing but scary (beautiful when it blooms but blooming depends on weather).

How about a large pot for your wisteria? I've got two large pots with wisteria in them, trained over a huge backyard arbor. They sit on concrete so no chance of rooting through the bottoms of the pots. No problems, although they did take almost 8 years to produce decent blooms. Becky

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Running out now to butcher my serial killer in disguise!!!

Do you really want to see this:

{{gwi:645834}}

Libby

Well Scully931, I'd sure trade you for the TWO wisteria I have planted, yes voluntarily!!, that was meant to take over and destroy...oops I mean camoflauge a vacant lot behind me. The stupid things have sat there for 3 months.. one plant has two new leaves the size of a pencil eraser.. that's it!!! Nada, nothing.. no death, no life.. no... wisteria.. wahh..

Maybe I'll drag them out in the middle of the front lawn.. and see how they like it when the dog pees on them!

Enjoy YOUR wisteria! Mine are due a kick in the pants!

Kym

Well... it sounds like they will at least disguise the vacant lot if not take it over entirely. If it's any consolation, mine sat there the first year and did nothing too.

Gee, I just wish I had one!

What's your address?

>;-)

here's what you do. Create a single post trellis and plop it far from the house. Train the wisteris to grow up this trellis and drape over to form a weeping tree.

So take a 6'x6' wooden post - 12 feet in length. Plop it in the ground - it should be 10 foot above ground and so possibly 2 feet below ground, secured with concrete footings. Take 4 2'x2' lumber (or thicker) cut as long as you prefer and form crossbeams at the top of the post. Paint the post any colour you want from brown to steel grey or black. Plant the wisteria and let it go. In time it will take over and form an umbrella effect, with the flowers coming out.

If this doesn't suit your taste - you can actually container a wisteria but it has to be a substantially sized container. This way, you can control the size of the plant.

Ianna

After seeing Libby's post, and then going back to yours, I think I'd find a way to move it if I really wanted to keep it. Here's a link to an easy, and inexpensive post over at bhg.com. I made 3 of these in my yard for viney things; perhaps it will suffice for your needs. The only thing I did differently is I got one of these easy-to-install post-holders to put in the ground, so that the entire post is above-ground. The whole thing including the 4x4 post (I have both a 6 foot one, and two 8 footers), and materials cost less than $30. Of course, you could also opt for the one in the background of this pic, which happens to be a 40-foot utility pole that we installed on our lawn as a flagpole...LOL. Signpost is in the foreground, and 2nd pic is the post-holder-thingy:

{{gwi:4890}}
{{gwi:732747}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Great vine post DIY

Scully, if you're serious email me.

Where we used to live in Zone 7 wisteria was a beautiful monster, but it CAN be made to mind. One neighbor, who we always referred to as my Jewish grandmother, had it trained very well. It grew over her breezeway, and it did not dare to step out of line!

Another neighbor on the other side had it in the middle of the yard as a sort of shrub. It did well, bloomed nicely, and behaved itself. However, when she subsequently sold the house, the new owner spent several years running it over with his riding lawnmower trying to get rid of it for reasons best known to himself. Rrrrrrrrrrrrm! Crash! Rrrrrrrrrmmmm! Fut fut fut choke sputter Rrrrrrrrrrrrrm!

Needless to say, the wisteria won. All he did was tick it off. Eventually, they reached a sort of truce. It stayed where it was, and he did not scalp it anymore.

My parents have wisteria in their zone 7 garden, but it has only crawled moderately up a support up from a pool of tendrils in the shrub-esque form, not attempted a coup of the house and surrounding environs.

Now we're in Zone 5b, and it seems to be less of an issue since while some folks have it, you do not see near as much of it as in the south. Perhaps the winters keep it in better check??

All that to say, yes, I would move it. No, I would not freak. Maybe a nice sturdy pergola in the middle of the yard with the wisteria climbing over it, a hammock in its shade, and a cool drink on a small table beside your favorite book?

You know... I hadn't thought of it before, but I have a spot in my lower yard (a level below where most of my gardens are) where I have a trellis. I hadn't considered it before because for three years I've been trying to get roses to grow over it. It frames a few old steps which lead to my roses and I always pictured gorgeous waves of bright roses on it. Yeah, right. In three years I've had two blooms from climbing roses that are barely a foot off the ground.

So... since it's away from the house and everything... that might be pretty.

Here is a picture. The roses are off to the right and spill over the wall. (sometimes)

Scully, it is a nice spot, but the arch is nowhere near as sturdy as you need to grow wisteria - at least, definitely not in my climate. One of my neighbours has one growing in a situation similar to yours, shading a small side gate, but she has it on concrete pillars, as I've mentioned before. You really need something very sturdy to grow it onto. Maybe you could relocate the arch somewhere else and build a very, and I mean very, sturdy structure to grow it in that place? I think it would look lovely.

Good luck, this thread has made my days this week :-)

Eduarda

Thanks for the comment, eduarda. I was kind of afraid of that. And it really isn't that sturdy of an arch. I remember losing some of the pieces when I was putting it together and I think maybe some of it is held with wire.
:-/

How about this one? It is definately much stronger. But, I'm afraid the wisteria would disrupt my already ancient rock wall, so maybe if I move it? No one ever sits in the bench part as it isn't comfortable. It's just a decoration for me. (Which I got on clearance at Kmart one year for EIGHT DOLLARS!)

I forgot about these when I first posted because this area of my yard always looks like it belongs to the neighbor's house and I hardly ever use it. Still, it would be pretty there.

Nice wall.

I'm afraid that the only decorative metal arbor that will hold up to a wisteria will need to be custom made at a welding shop, using sturdier materials than usually seen in arbors for purchase. Wisteria doesn't just grow up there and lie over the arbor like a wimp. It twines and twists and pulls with incredible strength. You could start with some lightweight thing and then when it really gets going, pull that down and shore up with the big stuff. The wisteria won't mind at all. It will just laugh and grow right back, wherever you have to cut or break.

I was going to go up the road and make pics of a small field of wisteria plants that take well to mowing, every year, several times. They just shrug and grow right back. Maybe I'll do it this weekend.

Nell

Oh.... and when they lose their leaves, they are an unsightly tangle of vines. This phase lasts for what seems like eight months in zone 6. Gorgeous when they bloom, for maybe a week.

A week if the wind doesn't blow or a heat wave doesn't hit.