In article , Sacha
writes
On 16/5/05 11:33, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:
snip

Interesting: must be a wonderful sight. How old does it have to be to
support itself? Do the branches on a mature specimen hold themselves
up too?

I wonder if a compromise solution might be to grow it through a
suitable small tree, which I suppose it might eventually kill,
leaving the wistaria on its own, like the tropical strangling fig.

We have one going up a conifer (the name of which I forget) and it's
flowering beautifully, defying the laws of pruning! I don't know if all
Wisterias would behave so well, perhaps it needs to be an especially
vigorous one. But this one is never pruned because it's impossible to get
at - that might be the only reason for NOT growing one up a tree, though a
deciduous one would make it a lot easier!

As I understand it, wisteria heads upwards to the top of the canopy, at
which point the stems can no longer climb but bend and sag downwards,
which encourages them to flower. The pruning is designed to kid them
into thinking they've reached the top when they haven't. And so a
wisteria which manages to scramble into the top of a tree should have no
problem in producing masses of flowers despite not being pruned.

It may be that pruning the bits you can reach encourages flowers lower
down.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"