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Wisteria question

17 years ago

This year I had received a 'Blue Moon' wisteria, said to be hardy to zone 3 ... time will only tell about that! Though, currently I have it container grown and will store over the winter in the coldroom. Now, it has grown very well and is about 10 ft tall. It has nice plump buds on the lateral branches and I imagine I should be getting some blooms next spring. I have read about pruning to control growth and maximize flowering, though was wondering if I should be training the vine to one main stem (with laterals coming off) OR allow several main stems to develop? It will be planted (in the ground) and secured up and over the doors of my south facing garage. Thanks!

Terry

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Comments (2)

jenny_in_se_pa
17 years ago
This is one of the native wisterias and is a newer cold-hardy cultivar. It should supposedly bloom on new growth so pruning (and when to do so), shouldn't be as big an issue as the asian types. For plants that bloom on new growth, it is usually recommended to prune in late winter/early spring.

How you train it is entirely up to you and how you want it to grow. I have seen them (and mine, a W. frutescens, was like this when I bought it) trained to a central trunk but with multiple vines wrapped around each other to form that trunk, and then the laterals come off the top along the multiple vines (with those top vines wrapped around each other to form the lateral supports). After a number of years, the multiple intertwined vines will fuse to form a large trunk and single lateral arms.

There were a couple links that I had found and posted in another thread on training. Here was one:

RHS - Training Wisteria
FrozeBudd_z3/4
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi Jenny and THANKS for taking the time to describe in detail your experience with wisteria. Considering some wisteria varieties are hardy in zone 4, I'm HOPING 'Blue Moon' will extend the boundaries even further into northern regions. So far I've been impressed with the growth put on by my new plant, this HOT weather is sure to it's liking! I've thus trained it to one stem, though next year will let a few more develop. If my plant does indeed flower next spring, I'll post some pics. Thanks again

Terry
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I have one that I'm attempting to train.Then I have a tree form I guess you'd say that I'm training ON an apple tree.They bloom together& the apple tree don't do much. Those vines that shoot out of ground....pick one or may pick 3 and losely braid.those thin vines they shoot off the sides...you can keep them trimmed back to 6 nodes or sometimes 4 nodes I'm doing as 6 nodes.Your main leader may need support a few years.My neighbors is growing up through a tomato cage with a pipe.I guess you'd say hers looks shrubby.My SIL had a tree form that was about 20 years old.I begged her to keep it.she wacked it to ground.has sprouts all over the yard.but she likes mine growing in up in tree.I'm at 5 years on the training part. you can click any of those pictures to see it in larger scale.It does smell WONDERFUL.It does not get fertilized.It's also in the ROS tree next to apple tree.this is my purple area(purple iris,purple ROS,purple wisteria) It looks alot better in person.the bumble bees& butterflys & hummers have not complained. My small tree form I'm trying to train.I snipped the vine thing before bloom.the main stem is just getting to size of pencil. I'll swing camera by neighboors to get picture of hers.If you need some closer shots I can snap some for you.
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There are a couple good websites out there that describe pruning to standards including Ohio State's and the Royal Horticultural Society. You can start training it now. Good luck!
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IME, the flowers are very susceptible to the vagaries of the weather - mine got hammered this year from the windy rainy week, then the ungodly hot week; it was clearly not a combination they liked as they, like yours, fell apart quickly. They aren't long-lasting flowers at best, not like a columbine's flower is, but they usually last longer than they did this year. So, chalk it up to the weather and wait for next year (also known as the Cry of the Gardener).
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I would go with one of the native American types of wisteria, such as macrostachya Blue Moon instead, as I've heard too many people report that the others can take years to bloom. I'm afraid I can't answer your other questions, as my Blue Moon grows in the ground and climbs a corner of the garage with no other vines nearby. It flowers freely without fertilizer, so I would avoid fertilizing it unless your soil is poor.
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