Orange Blossom

I planted two wisteria vines in large pots near a wire fence, which protects my garden from rabbits! I planted this 3 or 4 years ago. I am struggling with it. It grew enough this year to climb on the fence, but is mostly bushy. We caged around the pots and bedded it with straw in the winter months each year, to ward off freeze.
This spring I may plant it directly in the ground, but fear it will become rabbit food if I do that.
I guess I am not much help...I haven't had much success to date with it, but I am patient!
Kate

I don't know if the old thread is still available, but over the past couple years there was quite a discussion about wisteria on this forum. You may want to check- I had asked about people's experiences with it, and got lots of helpful info.

I ultimately planted a "Blue Moon" Wisteria, available from Rice Creek Gardens in Minnesota(they have a website). It was spendy for what appeared to be a wimpy little thing. It grew more than 12 feet that first year(last year), right up and onto its support system. Rice Creek says it blooms at least twice for them- it looked like it was trying to do a fall bloom, but we had an early cold snap, and that ended that. One flower this year-very lovely and fragrant, not as much growth in height, but new side growth. We'll see how it does this coming spring. I'm hopeful.

Our place came with a 20-year-old wisteria vine--6 tall and 30' wide along the back fence. Gets morning and early afternoon full sun but 5 o'clock shade. Sends out 10' runners every year. Blooms have been few for its size, but this year for the first time we pruned in mid-summer as they say.

I had two others to plant last year--the one that lived in a pot LANGUISHED and finally died over winter. I am told they resent containers rather harshly. IN the ground they go deep, quick. Thus once they climb up that first season, they are quite drought-tolerant if you can shade the base.

Thanks for the responses!
Mcfrank--I am heading to the website to check it out and I hope I can find that thread you mentioned, I'll look:)

Thanks

There's a women in the Broadmoor area that has one as tall as her two story house,growing on a wrought iron trellis,on a south facing wall(with a sprinkler system). Under ideal conditions you can grow them and they are WONDERFUL!!!! I have one that is barely alive,on the north side of the house and was told it may take 7-10 years before the root system allows the plant to take off under these poor conditions!!!

Nicole--Wow, I'd love to see that wisteria, must be beautiful! I guess I'd be happy with just the greenery covering the pergola if it doesn't like my conditions enough to bloom!

I wonder how long it would take a wisteria to really start to cover the pergola. Are they like climbing roses: first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap? I am looking to cover the pergola quickly and am wondering if perhaps there's a better vine for the job, as far as speed is concerned.

Thanks for the help:)

I had a Wisteria vine, or should I say "have" - I have been trying to kill it off completely for several years now. It was a VERY happy plant in my perennial garden; unfortunately I couldn't get it to flower much. In the spring when the flower buds swell up, an April frost would inevitably kill them year after year. But if you're just looking for green, then rest assured, with a warm sunny spot and regular water, you will get it. I would advise investing in a machete under those conditions.

I really want to try one again, but before I do, I will try to find a variety that is later blooming, and find a sunny spot with non-enriched soil that doesn't get too much water, to discourage the RAMPANT vine and foliage growth. (It's gotta put out FLOWERS if its gonna live in my yard...)

I was one who posted in 2002, but here it is again, revised. The two keys to me are pruning like crazy and keeping those roots cool (an evergreen groundcover and winter shade is the best solution) for as long as possible in the spring. The DBG has had many in containers that never did anything. Mine are both located near roof run-off sites, so they get that deep watering, as well as my watering. The drought proved that they needed the roof run-off, as my bloom as poor after the dry winter of 2002-03.

I have posted before about getting wisteria to bloom in Colorado, but am not able to find that, now. I just posted on pruning it to another thread, specifically about pruning wisteria (you might search for that). Anyway, my 17 years of growing 2 wisteria here, with advice from a Japanese bonsai master (who prunes one of them artistically for me each Feb), leads me to suggest the following:

Wisteria buds break (dormancy) depending on the temp of roots (& trunk), so my buds used to break every Jan or Feb when we had a warm spell in Denver. Now, after a hard frost for a few days, I cover the (unused) sidewalk my roots are under with a mylar Space Blanket over cardboard, and shield the rest of the roots with Christmas tree branches that I scavenge. The dwarf Oregon grape holly that grows beneath provides great shade for the roots.

By following this, I've gotten great May blooms on the winter-shaded one for 10 of 11 years (once defeated by a very late snow/frost). This one is a beautiful orchid-pink floribunda, "rosea".

I have a second wisteria whose roots are harder to shade (mostly under south-facing lawn), but I enlarged the flower bed under it in 2000, and then partially covered it with Christmas tree boughs. This, plus expert pruning starting 2 years before, gave a great show of buds in May 2001, which also died from the late frost, but it bloomed in August. In 2003, this one bloomed 3 times in the summer. It is a sinensis originally from Wayside Gardens.
I think severe pruning is very important, as flowers grow only on lateral shoots, not from the primary branches, and you can train the branches so they are very sculptural. Be sure not to let the branches weave into fences or around anything temporary or alive, as they will strangle or take it down! One of mine was woven into a cedar lattice fence and has bent the staves down to a remarkable degree. It is best to TIE them to a structure!
There is a recent book called "Wisteria" that goes into details. An issue of "Avant Gardener" in 2002 had additional advice. (All the above is based on my own experience in Denver - very different from growing in the East!)

Sally B, How do you prune them to encourage this lateral growth?

I planted one last fall to grow up a 20' dead pinion and fill a strategic corner of the yard.

clamatis grow really well. I just planted on last summer and now spring is here it has grown at least three feet now. It will have beautiful deep purple flowers. It is called a jackmanii.

I have a cutting of wisteria that is supposed to be pink. I live in Texas and I have seen white and purple but never pink. Does anyone have any advice they can offer?
thanks,
sue

I planted a wisteria in my back yard on a trellis about nine years ago. It gets full morning sun through early afternoon. It has grown to take over a neighbor's tree and covers my arbor and 30 feet of fence when I let it. It is in poor soil, but I feed it annually. I live in the Denver metro area and have to prune it hard annually and shape it during the summer. I don't remember what cultivar I bought, but I got it locally in a one gallon pot. Flowers are very fragrant, and purple & white.