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cissyham

Need idea for wisteria support

13 years ago
I have a beautiful wisteria growing up the side of our porch and onto a railing. I can get it off the railing and onto a support but not sure how to build it. I have read it should be metal. Would love to have something on the side of the porch for privacy or maybe under the ceiling of the porch.

Comments (21)

  • 13 years ago
    So right Ironwood! I used to have beautiful wisteria covering a pergola. Well, the wisteria "swallowed" the pergola and made the pergola lean so badly we tore out the concrete, pergola and wisteria. No wisteria anymore for us. Beautiful but destructive.
  • 13 years ago
    I was under the impression that the planting zone had an influence on how invasive Wisteria is, but I don't have direct experience growing it.
    I'm in Northeast
  • 13 years ago
    oh I love wisteria! there must be something you can do. I can't tell from the photo exactly where it is planted--by the pillar?--maybe you can move it to a better spot and build a pergola for it? then you can keep it in check and still get the privacy you want and the beauty too.
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    last modified: 13 years ago
    Also agree with Ironwood and Darzy that they are home wreckers. If you are willing to "take the plunge" of danger and daring with a potentially powerful plant near your beloved home, I can think of one way it might just work. Attach a steel trellis on the band between the floors. Use C shaped mounts (and poles on pads if necessary) to push it a couple feet from the house before the trellis even starts, and keep it "at bay" with prudent pruning. You can't let it get ahead of you, though, or the troublesome tendrils will windingly work themselves into your sublime structure quite quickly. You should be able to just obliterate all incoming vines due to the physical distance making them easy to see. This is a tricky job and would need pro help from your area, but could be really dramatic.
  • 13 years ago
    To keep ahead of our wisteria, I cut back any new strays after blooming. I had to do this every spring to keep it in bounds and then again in the fall. We moved, but I would not plant wisteria near a house again. It requires a sturdy structure for it to grip on. The vines took over my flower beds. Good luck.
  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 13 years ago
    Sadly, wisteria does destroy. But before it does that it invades your home. We had beautiful wisteria growing on our pergola. Before we knew it the tendrils had come in under the shingles, was trailing along the baseboard heater. It traveled the length, under the shingles and popped up in a bathroom, probably 60 or 70 feet away from the plant!
    The birds love to make nests in the foliage and then you have all the bird poop over your decking.

    If it can be transplanted, build a pergola away from the house.
    Pergola in Spring! · More Info
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    Something like this for privacy?
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    And wisteria very messy to sit under (trellis) but looks amazing in the garden when blooming!!!
  • 13 years ago
    and bees when it's blooming.
  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 13 years ago
    Agree with Ironwood. I'm in the sunny South, and the stuff is almost as bad as kudzu-- but prettier. Pretty and dangerous. We do have some, but it's away from the house. Even so, it will grow overnight and take over, if you don't watch it. When we moved in our house, 20 years ago, there was a basketball hoop, metal support in cement, in the ground. A very small wisteria plant was growing near by, so I wound those tiny tendrils around the metal base of the basketball support. Here's what it looks like now-- and it's been like this for years, so it didn't really take 20 years to get there. So this is away from the house, but this is what it could do to your house supports and foundation. I advise putting something up that's much less invasive, but just as nice looking (Jasmine or Lady Banks Rose?)
  • 13 years ago
    We have a free standing umbrella shaped one and a huge clumpy one the size of a double garage, and one climbing a tree. My favorite is the tree climbing one because it looks pretty and doesn't get into anything but the tree which is away from all builtings. The clumpy one gets into the nearby storage unit and is trying to take the roof off of it. The umbrella one has to be trimmed and kept out of a nearby tree. They must be supported by something really substantial. I would dig it up and move it away from the house for sure. If it doesn't make it you can buy another and start over. Lady Banks rose is a good idea from dianahb.
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    These concrete columns a really "substantial" !!! Cool how my neighbor trained it around the columns!
  • 13 years ago
    Thank you for all the comments. We will enjoy it this spring but then we will remove it.I definitely don't want it damaging the house and it already has a little. at least I impressed my gardener friends with the blooms!
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    Kevin -- who makes those lattice panels? Love the neighbor's columns!

    I trained my trumpet vine similarly, currently housing a mama robin with eggs.
  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 13 years ago
    I will look for a photo...
  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 13 years ago
    This is Ashikaga Park in Japan. Look at the strength of the steel and lattice supports necessary. Also note that there are no buildings within sight of the wisteria plants on their supports.

    It seems to me that one should build a structure in the middle of a large yard, or slightly to one side (but not close enough so that the plants will turn into a "Little Shop of Horrors" and eat the neighbors).

    I can attach four photos at one time. I do not know if they will enlarge on this post to not. (I am using an iPad.)
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    @barnhart, I grabbed that photo from houzz, no info! That might be too ornate for this example. I have seen people create white wood lattice panels to provide privacy screen and grow trumpet or vining roses. I guess depends on sun. A love wisteria, just not in this location! Very aggressive and can damage woodwork as noted above!
  • 13 years ago
    More...
  • PRO
    13 years ago
    Hey
    Check out Southern Living, March 2013 pages 47-48. "Keep this Vine In Line"
    It's a great spread on wisteria care.

    I LOVE wisteria. The trees are draped with it here in North Carolina.

    Best wishes,

    Daryl
  • 13 years ago
    This discussion brings back great memories of a small pergola (about 8' by 10') in our backyard growing up that had a gorgeous wisteria over the top creating a shaded sitting area. My parents came out one morning to find the poor pergola collapsed on the ground by the weight of the wisteria.