I very much doubt that what you plan will contain the roots.... We have both a Chinese wisteria (planted in 2001) and a Japanese wisteria (planted in 2007). Both are grown as 'trees'/'shrubs'. Both bloomed in spring for the first time at 5 years in the garden (e.g. the Japanese one bloomed for the first time last spring; the Chinese one also does a secondary summer bloom if you keep it pruned and it started doing the summer bloom in its second year in the garden but took five years to do the first big spring bloom.). Pruning is a regular chore throughout the summer but is not difficult and, for us, the reward (i.e. a fabulous display of flowers) is worth it. If you are prepared to do the work, it's not that difficult - although pruning growth on top of a pergola would be a PITA! (which is why we grow them as trees so we can control the height....) I prepared a maintenance manual for our graden a few years ago. Here are the instructions I wrote for pruning the wisterias - maybe they'll be useful for you:

- All new curly/whippy new growth should be pinched back/pruned off to 6â or so from its point of origin. This can be virtually a daily task in spring and early summer when they are growing fast. A long-arm pruner tool makes it easy to reach the top of the tree. Do not let the trees get taller than can be reached with the long-arm pruner. The pruners can be purchased at Lee Valley Tools at the local store or through their on-line store.
- Watch for root suckers and remove them as soon as you see them. Most will appear near the base of the trees but they can appear anywhere in a 15-20â - or more - radius of the trees. When you mow the grass, inspect the areas near the trees for root suckers. Ideally you want to remove the suckers by tearing them off the underlying root to remove the bud-wood from the root. If itâÂÂs too difficult to dig down, cut off the sucker close to the ground. More suckers will likely arise from the same location when the sucker is cut off rather than torn off the root.
- Do not allow any of the root suckers to grow into the main tree or form another tree. The Chinese wisteria in particular is a grafted plant so the root suckers are likely a wild form which may never flower or take decades to mature enough to do so.
- When the tree is bare of leaves, remove any seed pods you see (itâÂÂs almost impossible to find them on the Chinese wisteria until the leaves drop in the fall.) You do not want to have to deal with removing seedlings! The seedpods will explode and fling seeds around the garden on the first warm day of spring unless they are removed! No not neglect this chore!
- If the trees get too big or you want to shape them, prune them in very early spring before they leaf out or flower.

Properly cared for, the wisterias are spectacular; neglected, they are a nightmare!

I was at the place 2 days ago. And yes, you are correct about the seedpods exploding. I saw tons of seeds on the concrete patio :D

How is your root sucker experiences? Have you seen any that are more than 5 ft away?

Btw, I am having a hard time searching for a nursery online who sells floribunda macrobotrys. I found one, greer gardens. Any other suggesions/recommendations?

Thanks!

Pruning won't be a problem. I love being in my garden. I'm a very active person too. :)

We chainsaw pruned one here last year. I sent up runners at least 15' from the main plant. About all it did was try to get into a magnolia tree and attract japanese beetles. It never flowered. I don't know which kind it was, but I already knew they could be quite the pest, my grandparents had one that had tried pretty hard to get into their house via the cement between the bricks. Since it didn't bloom and I had to trim it at least once a week to keep it reasonably tidy so we culd drive past it, I figured it wasn't worth it. I *LOVE* the look of wisteria when it flowers, but I'd never plant one unless it was in a place I knew would always be surrounded by grass for at least 25' in every direction and I had the time to train it into a tree.

My root sucker experience has been pretty good. All but two on the Chinese wisteria have been from the base of the main stem. One of the two strays appeared about 3-4 feet away in a new bed that we had created. I suspect disturbing the soil around its roots might have triggered that particular sucker - we did find roots extending under the new bed when we dug it, but that was expected as the new bed was an extension of where the Chinese wisteria grows. The other stray sucker was about 3' away from the main trunk in a different direction; it came up in the mulch path that runs past the tree. Now that the Chinese one is reasonably mature (12 years old) we only get one or two suckers a year. The young Japanese one last year was still throwing off about one a month but all were either on the lower stem or within a foot of the trunk. I hope its rate of production of suckers declines with age as the Chinese one has done.

Since we're in the garden a lot, it's not been much of a hassle to remember to look for and remove the suckers. Removing the seedpods is a bit more of a PITA because they're further from the ground and can be hard to reach :-)

We're in zone 5 so that may help with controlling the vigor of the wisterias. There's always a frost warning in early-mid May that threatens the buds just as they are starting to expand - this weekend is the frost risk this year, so I've got my fingers crossed that it misses us.....

Awesome info woodyoak! Any suggestions where I can buy a Japanese Wisteria floribunda macrobotrys?

I'm in Canada so I have no idea where you would get one but I'm sure it won't be difficult. But I'm confused by the botanical name you're using. Japanese wisteria are usually just W. floribunda without the macrobotrys (searching around I seem to find that W. macrobotrys is just a synonym....) I have the variety 'Lawrence' which is easy to find around here. It is considered one of the best Japanese ones and is quite hardy - it was originally found growing at a cottage in Ottawa and believed to must have come from England. (Ottawa gets very cold so if it will grow and flower there, it's pretty darned hardy!)

Here is a link that might be useful: W. floribunda 'Lawrence'

I was just rereading Peter Valder's Wisteria book (you might be interested in getting that one....) and have sorted out what you meant by the plant name - the macrobotrys part needs to be in quotes as it is a variety name - i.e. Wisteria floribunda 'Macrobotrys'. Macrobotrys means long spike (or something like that...) and refers to the unusually long flower racemes. Searching on that name, I found one US source:

http://www.bloomriver.com/home/br2/page_287

Here is a link that might be useful: Peter Valder's wisteria book

I am not a gardener by nature, but after being in this house 6 years, and trusting my former landscaper to keep things in check, I had terrible problems with the overgrowth of vines this year .. ivy, rambling rose, Virginia creeper, and my favorite wisteria! The wisteria has jumped the gap from an arbor, onto a holly tree, and climbed all the way up the tree! Vines grow faster than you'd expect! There are also runners that go in both directions the full width of the house in that area, extending under the deck, and even finding their way under vinyl siding. Although the base was cut, one place the wisteria "jumped a gap", there are woody vines that are at least 2" in diameter, hanging down from the holly tree .. Tarzan could easily use them to swing around!