Inherited Wisteria

[shanova]

Hi everyone, I’m new to gardening so please be gentle!

We bought a house recently which has a Wisteria over the front facade. However, recently some of the attachment points seem to have fallen off which has caused the plant to droop over:

I realised that there are vine eyes still firmly in the brickwork above the window to the left of the Wisteria so I tried putting up a fresh wire trellis with galvanised wire and turnbuckles. However, I realised that I couldn’t attach the wisteria to the wire trellis using garden twine (the twine would break from the weight of the wisteria).

Reading up a bit more and it seems I should at least be pruning some of the wisteria. Can I ask if someone could help advise on what I should be doing here? Should I be pruning away pretty much all the branches apart from the main stem? Should I then be trying to attach the main stem to the wooden support frame first before trying to guide it to the wire trellis over time? Or has this wisteria grown too far in the wrong direction now that I need to be starting afresh (I hope not!).

Any and all help and guidance would be appreciated!

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.

The problem with wisterias is that they need a lot of control.
Yours is the result of the previous owner not pruning off new growth from near the root.
You have a main trunk and a lot of other branches.
A lot depends on where you want it to grow.
You could try to train the bit that's hanging over the window to grow over it.
You may be able to bend that bit.

You don't need more trellis you just need to screw two or three "eyes," into the brickwork, midway between the top and bottom window and attach it with some strong garden wire
But you need to sort out the unwanted branches.

Personally, I'd get rid of the main trunk, as in my opinion it looks ugly and train those three small branches to go where you want them to grow, At the moment the energy of the plant is going "everywhere," by reducing the number branches, it will encourage the growth to grow where you want it to grow,
Start by pulling the thin branches away from the wall, it's very bendy, to see what's possible.

Wisteria grows quite quickly. So you'll be surprised how good it will look after two or three years.
Here's one of ours that's pruned every year, to stop it doing its own thing.

Ideally, you should reduce side shoots to between two and four buds, during this month, at the latest, to get blossom this year. Removing unwanted new growth will be necessary, from about May until October.

If you type "wisteria" into the search box at the top of the page, you'll find a lot of posts (most of them mine!) about looking after wisteria.

 

[Tundra20]

cant killem ive cut ours all the way down
it came back definetly gotta control them

 

[shanova]

Hi and welcome.

The problem with wisterias is that they need a lot of control.
Yours is the result of the previous owner not pruning off new growth from near the root.
You have a main trunk and a lot of other branches.
A lot depends on where you want it to grow.
You could try to train the bit that's hanging over the window to grow over it.
You may be able to bend that bit.

You don't need more trellis you just need to screw two or three "eyes," into the brickwork, midway between the top and bottom window and attach it with some strong garden wire
But you need to sort out the unwanted branches.

Personally, I'd get rid of the main trunk, as in my opinion it looks ugly and train those three small branches to go where you want them to grow, At the moment the energy of the plant is going "everywhere," by reducing the number branches, it will encourage the growth to grow where you want it to grow,
Start by pulling the thin branches away from the wall, it's very bendy, to see what's possible.

Wisteria grows quite quickly. So you'll be surprised how good it will look after two or three years.
Here's one of ours that's pruned every year, to stop it doing its own thing.

Ideally, you should reduce side shoots to between two and four buds, during this month, at the latest, to get blossom this year. Removing unwanted new growth will be necessary, from about May until October.

View attachment 106880

If you type "wisteria" into the search box at the top of the page, you'll find a lot of posts (most of them mine!) about looking after wisteria.

Thanks for the detailed reply, Sean.

Yes, we’d like to train the bit that’s hanging over the window to “grow over it”.

Actually, I did notice some “eyes” in the brickwork above the window - would I be right to say that simple garden wire like https://www.screwfix.com/p/apollo-galvanised-steel-wire-1-6mm-x-30m/53197 should suffice? I had thought that using wire to attach the Wisteria to the wall might damage it.

Can I ask when you say you’d get rid of the main trunk, do you mean cutting off the entire trunk from the bottom like the area circled in red? When you refer to the 3 branches you’d keep and try to bend back, do you mean the 3 circled in blue above? Should I then be cutting off basically everything else not from those 3 branches in the direction I’d like them? Apart from over that window, would you try to direct the plant above the door as well (appreciate this may be a matter of personal opinion, but I’d love to hear what an expert might do!)z

Thanks for the suggestion on the forum search - I had actually read a couple of other threads and you seemed to be respected as being knowledgeable wisteria so I do appreciate your time in replying! Will try to read more in the coming days.

 

[Sean Regan]

Thanks for the detailed reply, Sean.

Yes, we’d like to train the bit that’s hanging over the window to “grow over it”.

Actually, I did notice some “eyes” in the brickwork above the window - would I be right to say that simple garden wire like https://www.screwfix.com/p/apollo-galvanised-steel-wire-1-6mm-x-30m/53197 should suffice? I had thought that using wire to attach the Wisteria to the wall might damage it.

View attachment 106886

Can I ask when you say you’d get rid of the main trunk, do you mean cutting off the entire trunk from the bottom like the area circled in red? When you refer to the 3 branches you’d keep and try to bend back, do you mean the 3 circled in blue above? Should I then be cutting off basically everything else not from those 3 branches in the direction I’d like them? Apart from over that window, would you try to direct the plant above the door as well (appreciate this may be a matter of personal opinion, but I’d love to hear what an expert might do!)z

Thanks for the suggestion on the forum search - I had actually read a couple of other threads and you seemed to be respected as being knowledgeable wisteria so I do appreciate your time in replying! Will try to read more in the coming days.

Yes, see where those three branches go and that they are alive all the way up and you've enough plant with which to work.
The one in my first photo is attached to lateral wires strung at different gheights

between the concrete posts. I don't attach anything to the actual wooden panels. I use strong wire with a green plastic coating. I use more bits of it to tie the branches loosely to the wires

You can pretty much do what you like with wisteria.

This one we planted in the little bed, close to the kitchen window.

I trained it to go over the fence and along the complete length of the side of the house.

This video will give you a better idea what you can do with them. The one on the pergola on the back of the house is actually two, which cross over.