Wisterias in Bloom

Wisteria is one of the most popular vines in our area. They perform great in our climate. One of the problems we see with wisteria is plants that refuse to bloom. Most often these are seedling plants. Seedling plants take up to 12 years to bloom. Most all the small #1 size wisteria are grown from seed and because they are inexpensive to grow the cheap #5 plants also. If you want a wisteria that blooms you want a grafted plant or cutting grown plant.

Our most popular variety is Cooke's Special. This is a lavender variety with a consistent habit of reblooming in mid summer. Because of the foliage it is not as showy as the spring bloom. We like it because of the consistent heavy bloom in the spring and the fact it reblooms.

Texas White is also a good consistent blooming variety. Obviously it is white and it only occasionally will we see some summer blooms. We get conflicting information about whether they are Japanese wisteria or Chinese wisteria. The best info I can get is that they are Chinese wisteria, which make medium long chains. We do occasionally carry a couple of true Japanese wisteria with the very long chains. The problem is they are not as dependable about blooming young. We also carry a few of Silky wisteria which make a short fat chain and a more woody branching structure.

White Venusta wisteria

If you are growing it on a fence or arbor the key training issue is to control the number and growth of trunks and main branches. DO NOT let them wrap at all closely around anything you want to keep. I have seen them destroy 6x6 timbers. Wrap them loosely. Often this means looser thane you think necessary. Wisteria trunks will get 6” or even larger in time. You need to allow room or drape them around the post and any other supports.

If you have a blooming wisteria you can keep them under aggressive control. Don’t be afraid to prune and control during the summer. This is important during the initial training to keep them from wrapping around things you don’t want destroyed as well as later when you are trying to keep them within the bounds you set. Does any of this sound like raising kids??? Keep them from destroying everything they can reach and setting bounds!!!

If you do the summer pruning then winter pruning is just a final touch up to keep the wisteria from growing into a jungle. A little fertilizer when they are young to get them off to a good start and sometimes