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Good Monday! A Little Wisteria Roundup

April 5, 2010

I hope you had a great weekend.  My husband and I worked hard, hard, hard, in in our garden this weekend.  I am still in awe of what we accomplished. We re-roofed the shed and painted it (except for the door which we are still discussing color).  I can’t wait to share the before and after shot of that with you…..We moved about 1/4 of a 5 yard pile of compost around the garden.  I moved no less that 2 yards of wood chips to the tree house base and to cover the new paths in the newly expanded veg garden.  We dug, hoed and hacked out 5 new garden beds (each 4′ wide and about 11′ long) and got 4/5 of them edged with stone from all over our property AND we did all the standard family Easter activities.   Seriously, my body is paying for it…I can hardly move and my swollen hands make typing a little funny.  But still, progress is so motivating.

So when we bought this property, a little over 5 years ago I was so excited that there was what appeared to be an established wisteria growing on the shed and neighboring tree.   Coming off this (yes, this was my Notting Hill neighbor) – I was excited to have my own beautiful wisteria in my new country rustic setting.

image by bradman334

What I didn’t know is that it wasn’t blooming and that the adventure to get it back would involve major tree removal, shed re-construction and pruning beyond belief.   These things take time….the tree that is was overtaking came down last summer, I disentangled the vine from the tree and the shed.  It spent the winter, having been pruned very hard, laying on the ground, and now that the shed has been repaired and painted, it is going back up — in a far more organized and purposeful fashion.

mosaic of wisteria garden
1. Wisteria, 2. wisteria (thanks for the answer folks), 3. Wisteria at front of house, 4. Wisteria

I have been researching what else I might need to do to get this thing back to flowering….I think that the additional sunshine from the other tree removal will certainly help, and I will give it a shovelful of compost this week toe feed it but not too much.

Doug Green has a great article about planting, and caring for wisteria.  It is worth a read for the basics.  I know so many of you, like me, have issues with your wisteria — I would estimate at least 1 in 4 of my new clients seem to have this question for me as we walk their garden for the first time…hmmm.. I have this wisteria….and it doesn’t bloom….what am I doing wrong? At least read what Doug Green has to say, it’s a good start.

image by confections

I am intrigued about the idea of braiding my wisteria stem to make it even more eye catching and interesting.  Wisteria is latin for work” (Cass Turnbull) —  and it certainly is if you want it to be the beautiful architectural plant that it can be.   This has to be the best article online that describes exactly how to successfully manage the growth of wisteria and keep it doing what you want it to.  It is what I am using for pruning guidance as I hope to get this thing back to flowering…wish me luck!

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  1. K-Line says:

    This wisteria is utterly gorgeous. Beautiful place.

  2. Louise says:

    Thanks for the tips on links to wisteria care. My mother in law was from west virginia and she swore that the only thing wisteria needed to bloom properly was to whack the trunk with a stick several time in early spring…while this never worked for mine here in central mass. I have gone over to the American wisteria (W. macrostachya) for habitat purposes and have seen nary a bloom in three years. Mysterious botany.

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