Wisteria

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Does anyone have experience with wisteria? I have it climbing my trees, but I have seen it pruned into a bush. It can be showy, and is very fragrant. What are your experiences and reccomendations?
 
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Does anyone have experience with wisteria? I have it climbing my trees, but I have seen it pruned into a bush. It can be showy, and is very fragrant. What are your experiences and reccomendations?
When I lived on the Gulf Coast of Texas Wisteria was and is a very popular vining plant. It is absolutely georgeous. Having said that it is invasive. It will go everywhere. It will actually take over. I have seen entire houses covered. It will completely cover trees. It grows fast. To control it you must cut it back every year or two down to the ground. I do not know how to kill it without using nasty chemicals. The best way that I know of to manage Wisteria is to find the main stem and either cut it off or cut the auxiarly canes, preferably the main stem. Don't worry, you won't kill it. The problem is getting the dead vines out of your trees.

Recomendations? Kill it while you can and plant something like trumpet vines or Cross vines or anything..............
 
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I love wisteria ! However , it can get to be a very large vine, and if you don't want it climbing up your trees, then I would say to dig it up, and move it somewhere that you can enjoy its beauty.
Otherwise, I am sure that if you advertise it for free on craigslist, or a local gardening forum in your area, someone who does want it will come and dig it out just to have it.
We have trumpet vine here, and it has spread all over everything, and I am always digging it out of places we don't want it. I would love to have wisteria instead !
I think that there is a vining wisteria, and also a bush wisteria, and those are the ones that you can prune in the shape you want.
 
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When we moved into our new house the previous owner had planted a Wisteria on a small section of wall right next to a window and door and below a low roof. We were forever trying to keep it under control (it kept growing into the roof which could have given us problems) so in the end we removed it. Such a shame, because it's a really beautiful plant when in flower, but it was a really bad spot for it.

What were the bushes you saw like? Were the plants supported in any way?
 
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I do yes - as I used to grow Wisteria where I used to live - but as my experience of growing Wisteria proved to be very expensive - due to the fact that it demolished the whole of a rather large brick built front porch during a winter storm - I have not had any further desire to grow it again - even though I think its a stunner of a plant.

Wisteria can be trained to grow as a large shrub or tree but as this normally requires a lot of time and effort and generally takes ten years or more before it becomes a tree - most people prefer to buy one of the many varieties that have already been trained to grow that way.

As you don't say whether you are wishing to keep or get rid of yours thomas pendrake - its difficult to know which area you are wanting advice on - particularly as trying to keep Wisteria contained to a smaller area and trying to get rid of it altogether are both fairly tricky and time consuming - especially the latter - as even though you may think that you have totally got rid of a Wisteria - it often reappears some 12 - 18 months later.
 
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Since it is now in your trees you will have to decide if you want to keep it in the trees. I have seen it grown on trellises and it can be quite spectacular. It is a very fast grower so bear in mind that it will eventually overcome those trees and take them over. What is it that you want to have happen with the wisteria?
 
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My vines are probably 30 to 40 years old and they are no problem. I have seen them trained into bushes in Tennessee and somewhere near NYC when passng through. I was mostly lookbin for advice on how to train them. Here in Florida people seem to just let them grow. We have more problems with air potatoes.
 

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