Keep a close watch on your wisteria.....

[Mikey]

Some time ago I recall reading a comment from someone on a gardening forum.  She was discussing growing a wisteria alongside a house and have it climb up the front porch railing and up to the second floor of the house.  She made a comment that I thought was in jest about the wisteria needing heavy pruning or else it would pull the house down in a decade or two....

I purchased a tree wisteria about five years ago and planted it next to an arbor in my back yard.  It was a skinny plant and I put in a wood stake to give it support.  I allowed the wisteria to climb on top of the arbor begin to entwine itself around the supports.  I recently noticed one of the 2x4 supports on the top of the arbor was cracked and being pulled down by the wisteria.  

Below is a photo that I took tonight of the mid trunk of the wisteria.  It used to be about the same size as the wooden support stake.  Notice the green tape where it wraps around the wisteria.  It was level when I wrapped it several years ago and notice it has now been pulled downward.  I would expect the diameter of the trunk to increase but the downward direction really surprises me.  I didn't use soil amend when I planted it so I know the plant hasn't sunk down due to settling....  Because of what I see below, I now realize that the lady wasn't being facetious when she warned about the wisteria pulling the house down.....

Today I pruned the wisteria and removed it's grip from the arbor.  It now only rests on the arbor and I will keep a close eye on it in the future....

[LilithFair]

Wisteria is considered a noxious weed in Florida. They ask people not to plant it, but they have not banned it outright. Oldtimers here call it "strangler vine". Wisteria will actually kill trees that it entwines both by pressure on the trees and by shading them out. It sends underground runners literally for hundreds of feet. The common wisdom is, "If the neighbor 10 houses down has wisteria, so do you". People have tried to contain it with underground barriers but it never helps. Its a beautiful flower, and it smells heavenly, but its not worth it to me.

[Jerry]

uh oh!
My Wisteria that has never flowered is going up my Eucalyptus citradoras.
Mike, what do you think?

[Mikey]

Don't let it wrap itself around your tree Jerry for as LilithFair notes some call it the "strangler vine".  You can attach it to your tree but if it encircles it, it will likely eventually squeeze it to death like a boa constrictor.  My wisteria was a tree wisteria and I built a hoop on top for it to loop around.  Since it has matured it no longer needs the hoop and I removed most of it yesterday but some branches had already engulfed the hoop and so I just cut it off since it was impossible to remove.

Now for you young-marrieds out there.  If you don't like your mother-in-law, catch her napping outside sometime and plant a wisteria next to her leg.  She'll be swallowed up in no time at all....

Other than what I described above, mine has been well behaved although it did send up one sucker a few feet away and I dispatched it rather quickly....  What I really like about this variety I have is that after the initial heavy flowering, it continues to send out scattered flowers throughout the summer. 

[maryvonne]

Mine has been in for about 5 years and I had to prune it back severely this summer. It was starting to pull down it's support.

Maryvonne

[LeeAnne151]

When in bloom, they are fabulous but I visit them at other locations rather than planting one.....

[maryvonne]

LeeAnn,

You are a wise woman. I love them too when in bloom but won't be planting one at the new place.

maryvonne

[Mikey]

My wisteria performs a triple duty of being pretty, fragrant and providing needed shade.  I have an arbor with a sitting area beneath it and several potted epiphyllum attached to the arbor supports.  In the late spring, early summer, a couple of grape plants eventually grow up and over the arbor providing the needed shade for the epiphyllum, however, the wisteria wakes up first and provides the much needed shade before the grapes are able to do their job...  The epis used to get burned if we had some early spring heat but now that the wisteria is in place that no longer happens.

[Johns]

Wisteria sinensis, or Chinese wisteria, while notably fragrant, is a horrible invasive plant.  Much less invasive, but not  fragrant, is Wisteria frutescens, or America wisteria.  Of course, my garden includes the former.  There are other wisterias, so be careful what you buy..  see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisteria

[terri]

I really like Wisteria, but dont have anywhere here to grow it. So, i admire it from afar.  Many older row homes in this area have them growing on an awning type arbor. Most arent well cared for, so they look awful. But for as many awful specimans i have seen, i have seen some beautiful ones.