Thyme...those are beautiful. But the thought if their having a pungent odor will keep me from planting a more manageable wisteria. We have decided to go with tree form...only because my husband said...if I have patience with bonsai...surely I can manage a wisteria tree. My bonsai wisteria is no trouble at all...and it's basically miniature form. I do though...see quite a handful if I go with the vine tree form that is meant to climb something. For it was twisted and needs support to stand upright. Which I had contemplated our gazebo. Reading the link that was attached I did see where the tree was mentioned to be more manageable by a few posters. When it is upright and not allowed to climb over something. For a second...I thought I had a winner...with zone 5 and a manageable vine. Until I read it is quite unpleasant to smell. And it is to close to outdoor living spaces. I appreciate the heads up though on that.

That is a double suet feeder I bought at one of the local Agways - I think it was made by Droll Yankee, but I'm not sure. It's good because you can fill it with oranges and suet or put two suet blocks in at once. It also solves the problem of how to refill a suet feeder when the first block has shriveled down to 1/3 the size, but is still taking up space. With a single feeder you have to either throw the remainder on the ground (which pleases the ground-feeders), or try to cram a new block in with the leftover. With the double feeder you can just add a new block to the top and it slides down as it gets whittled away. One of my suet feeders is invisible from indoors now that the rose leaves have filled out. In the winter I could see birds through the canes. The suet feeder is hanging from the top of the arch. I'm hoping the little birds like downies and wrens can lurk in there and wait for the grackles (and Blue Jays) to leave. Claire

I just saw this thread. I'm also in zone 4. I brought two young wisteria vines (in pots) with me when I moved here from the north SF Bay area of CA five winters ago. One is still in its pot, the other is planted in my front yard. When I checked with the local nurseries here, the best we could come up with is "iffy" on the wisteria surviving the winters. They're actually both doing fine. So far. The potted one comes inside as soon as it goes dormant, and spends the winter in my enclosed, but unheated, front porch. I give it 'some' water about once a month, depending on how cold it is and how damp the soil is. In the spring, when the weather warms up, it goes back outside on my patio, which has a roof, but is otherwise open. The one planted in the yard, I will admit, gives me a strong case of "nerves" every spring, waiting for it to...do something. It's always the last plant to show any movement in the buds. The first couple years it was very hesitant and the growth wasn't as luxious as I know it can be. This past summer though, it took off like crazy, sending out new growth every which way. For the first time since planting, I actually had to prune a little. I'm wanting this to grow the same way you mention, as a standard. Winter protection, when it was small enough, was provided by removing the bottom from a cheap plastic garbage can, putting that over the vine, and then filling it with cedar mulch. The second year, the top was higher than the upside down garbage can, so I put a five gallon bucket, upside down, over the top. There was no mulch inside the bucket. I did have some top burnback from the winter temps (which can get -30° here), but the rest of the vine was fine. Last winter, and now, the vine has gotten too tall for the garbage can method, so I went to Home Depot and got a couple 4 ft high, 12 inch diameter, Quick Tubes. These are very heavy cardboard tubes used for pouring concrete pillars. I covered the bottom of one tube, inside and out, with plastic to keep it from getting wet. Then I "bundled up" the branches of the vine to keep them from breaking, and slid the tube over the vine, filling it completely with cedar mulch. Because it tends to be top-heavy, the tube has to be staked so it won't fall over. Then I covered the top with plastic (garbage bag) and duct-taped everything down. Worked last winter, and I expect it'll work again this winter, especially as mild as it's been. The only other problem I've encountered is that the Japanese beetles LOVE to munch on it. I put a trap out each year, and employ the "two-block" method - smash the beetles between two blocks of wood. Doesn't seem to harm the wisteria at all. This summer, I'm hoping to get some Milky Spore and spread it around the yard to combat the beetle problem. Hope this helps.

Please do some research and ask locally about bamboo. In the 80s and 90s, bamboos were promoted relentlessly in the UK. When I started out as a pro-gardener (design and build), I almost gave up because so many of my jobs involved the (difficult and exhausting) removal of bamboo. Contrary to popular supposition, it rarely remained within bounds...even with high grade rootbarriers. However, a number of customers had also planted bamboo above ground in galvanised containers...which did a reasonable job of maintaining a clumping form...but what hardly anyone had considered was the enormous amount of water these plants require to look decently clothed. A dry bamboo is a horror of brown, dessicated foliage (hard, sharp little leaves at that) which littered the ground on a daily basis...while the culms themselves were semi-naked with a mix of green and dull tan leafage. A most unnattractive look which resembled the famous lush bamboo groves of those Chinese films (Creeping Tiger, Raise the Red lantern, Hero etc.etc.) not one bit. Thankfully, the fad for bamboo (so easy to propagate and sell for eye-watering prices) has finally crawled to a stop here in the UK...after so many home-owners watched their pond-liners, concrete paths, foundations and walls simply crumble beneath the persistence and vigour of a rampant phyllostachys. Post and wire gives you numerous options - from roses and jasmines to glory vine, ampelopsis, akebia quinata, climbing hydrangeas, tropolaeums, passiflora, clematis and honeysuckles...with a huge number of easy (from seed) and interesting annuals and temporary climbers to amuse you with different additions every year (thunbergia, eccremocarpis, gourds, sweet peas, ipomea, cobaea, runner beans...