I'm making a wish list for my upcoming birthday. Was looking at wisteria for a trellis I'd like to put up in front of the house, that would be at the beginning of the walkway to the front door - but I just read it could take 5-10 YEARS to see flowers?! I'm in major shock, and though I consider myself a patient person, I just don't think I can wait that long!

HI MARY yep it can take a long time

Hey Mary! If you plant them from seed...yes they will take that long! I have one that I got from a neighbor that was a runner that rooted itself next to the main plant and it bloomed the same year that I planted it, even though I thought it was almost dead! Hope this helps!

Thanks Mike & Vada! I'll definitely have to find one thats a few years old if I go this route...I just dont have that much patience

Patience is virtue.

Good things come to those that wait.

--

I want it now but I understand that sometimes it takes time.

Fooey! LOL!

I guess if I didn't need to put in foundation plants right now, I wouldn't mind waiting. I need some good stuff now, but I might still try some for the long haul.

Guess you could root a branch of it - I never tried it. If it grows off the fence next door, I figure I've got it anyway, so I just enjoy it that way.

I tried to root some this year and it died. I was told that it can be done. There is a small nursery next door to me and I asked the owner about it. But all the clippings I took didn't root Maybe I will try again. If anyone tries it and it works let me know how you did it!

Vada, if I can find some around here, I'll try it and let you know! I really love the way it looks...it would definitely be worth the wait, even if I cant have it where I need something now - I'll find a place for it! LOL!

A girl I know from NC did her lilac tree with a rooting. She took a cutting from the bottom of the tree, then brought it into the house and set it in some water. Then when she saw a bit of root she potted it. When it got a little bigger she put it outside. Now she has a small lilac tree - a shrub more or less, but 'twill be a tree someday.

I rooted a branch about 5 years ago.I took a piece that had a part of the woody section& used rooting hormone.the white& pink ones are alot harder to root and the pink really resents transplanting.I have sowed seeds of mine in the woods behind me...when i'm an old woman i'll see them bloom.I was just talking to someone out here yesteray about a 40 yr old wisteria in my SIL new yard.its kinda growing in tree form the one we was chatting about.He said for about 5 years they keept cutting it back to 5 ft.there are some runners throughout the yard in spots.

There is a good place in LA that sells basically only wisteria& bamboo.I'll have to find my adress book that its in.the plants they sell are garanteed to bloom cause they don't SELL them till they do and sometimes when they arrive they have blooms or buds& they have a choice of grafted or own root(they do explain the difference,I belive being your more north you'd go with the grafted)they boast of haveing a 200 yr old wisteria plant.they also sell the red wisteria and is a waiting list.They also have a pink one with fushia dots in tips of the flowers(like the liliac with the yellow dot)

I've been told they don't transplant well,but have had mine do fine(ceept for my pink)

you DO KNOW that they can take over and cover a house totally don't you?you'd have to keep it trimmed to keep it in bounds.I think they look nice growing up in trees as long as not grown where it would girdle the tree itselfI have one in training up in my apple tree.they bloom together and looks real pretty in spring.and they would need a VERY STRONG trellis.

It would be super awesome of you, if you could get me their info. The blue wisteria is on my 'absolutely must have' list. I haven't seen it growing anywhere here - hmm I hope it will do ok in z6, I'll have to check.

I don't plan on having it anywhere near the house or any trees, but rather at the end of the walk to my front door on a (very strong per your suggestion) arbor. Once it reached max coverage I would keep it pruned. I'm hoping even as a little old lady I will still be able to get out there with my pruners

Thanks so much njoyinit. Please feel free to PM me with the info when you find it, or post here...or skywrite it LOL just as long as I can see it I'll be happier than a...well, very happy!

Hi Mary! I've been following this thread with amusement because when I bought this house, we had wisteria coming out of the ying-yang. My God, it was huge and it was everywhere. I'm letting you know this because I am also in zone 6, and it obviously had no probs here-good luck finding one in bloom!

LOL Rozy! I take it you weren't too fond of it then? LOL! Did it bloom for you? Do you still have it? Hmmm I'm gettin a-scared!

It did bloom, and I now wish I had kept a small part of the arbor we used to have, but it was right in the middle of the yard. The blooms were fantastic. But I cannot stress enough how invasive it is. You should have seen the roots on this baby-it was collapsing the arbor. I still have vines growing up IN my shed (it's just a dirt floor) with no light, no water and frequent trampling with bikes and what-nots. I got a couple of sprouts last year, about 30 feet from where the arbor had been. I'm currently attempting to make it into a braided-trunk tree, but it's growing so fast, I'm forced to prune it often, and it just isn't working out too well. On the other side of the yard, however, I have what I call my wisteria ball. It looks like a giant soccer ball. I can't tell you how many times it's been cut to the ground, parked on for 6 months, etc etc etc. It is currently about 7 feet around, 4 feet high-nice looking for now, but I know that by the end of the summer it will be taking over. I'm not trying to discourage you, really! I'm just warning you: be prepared to prune!!! Good luck!

Geesh, that does really sound like a handful. Sounds like it grows on runners...Im really surprised that it grew 30' from the arbor..whoosh! I wonder how deep the roots go, and if it would be possible to stop it from spreading with a below ground barrier of some kind. I'll definitely do my research on this one. In the meantime, I'd love to see a pic if you could post one?!

All of the wisteria I have gotten to grow and bloom w/in the same planting season is from my mothers OLD OLD OLD one that was trained as a bush years before she bought her property. The easiest method I've found is to find a runner and carefully dig it up...each "joint" should have roots beginning to develope. Then I pick a nice sized piece with good roots developing and plant the whole thing about 1-2 inches in loose soil...keep it watered...and like majic...it grows..the only problem is you MUST keep it pruned and train it into a bush, or train it to climb something STRONG. It will only flower on new growth, so pruning is a must. I live in louisiana and people here cut it down, tear it from fences and burn it. It's fairly invasive, but I love it!

It doesn't have to take that long.....

The problem with Wisteria is that the old stock plants can take years, or may never flower at all. New stock plants are bred to flower in their first year, although I pinched the flowers on mine to encourage growth.
If you have a plant that has not flowered for more than three years then dig the bugger out and go off to garden supply and buy one that comes from guaranteed flowering stock.

There are loads of them now

And make sure you train the new tendrils in a clockwise direction!

Mary,

There is hope for you. The National Gallery of Art in D.C. has wisteria growing all over a wall by the front entrance. At least it did, 4 years ago.

Well, assuming I can build a strong enough support for it, I think I'll venture out in the spring in search for a guaranteed-to-bloom variety - unless I can get out to DC to borrow some

What's the deal with training the tendrils clockwise???

Can you explain why? I've been trying to get some wisteria too & my brother-in-law was cool enough to get one started for me. So, I've been reading up on so that I don't kill it (I'm afraid to bring it to my house...I'm sure it'll die.) This is the info I've seen on many sites: The best known wisterias are Chinese (W. sinensus) and the more cold-hardy Japanese (W. floribunda). Interestingly, the Japanese type twines in a clockwise direction and the Chinese twine counter-clockwise.

Right, it goes something like this....

You know that plants will grow towards light...
This is called positive phototropism.

The bending of the stem toward light is triggered by a build up of a hormone called auxin in the opposite side of the stem to the light source. It causes that side of the stem to grow just a little bit faster forcing the direction of growth toward the light.

Well binding around a support for stability is called thigmotropism, and it works in a similar way.

You are dead right by the way, W. Sinensis (chinese) binds anti-clockwise, whereas the Japanese type W. floribunda binds clockwise.

Why exactly they choose to go in different direction is beyond me. You would have to ask a botanist

Hope this helps