In article , Lilly wrote:

On Mon, 10 Feb 2003 17:12:36 GMT, "Allegra"
wrote:

Hello Lilly,

Hey Lady! How you be?


I guess the one to answer here is Paghat, since she is likely to know
about this quasi "climate" question, but when it gets cold some
of our wisterias (two) die here and there, as they do need renewal.

Paggers usually knows, good point.

Thanks for the double dose of faith in me, but my own wisteria is still
relatively young ten foot fountaining thing, so I've done only a little
pruning of it to date, & have too little expertise to do more than repeat
what I've gathered more from books than from experience. I think I'm
training my correctly but it's not yet large enough or often enough pruned
to reveal any fault if I've made any mistakes; eventually I want mine to
be growing downward from the top of the garage so I don't yet have the
effect I've planned in the long run. Lilly's transplanted one will
certainly need any sickly bits trimmed off, & one would expect the shock
of being dug up & transported to a new environment to result in some bits
dying. The chap who advised never to prune it sounds wacky, but there may
be conditions where it's proper to let them go wild, I dunno. What follows
below reposts my thoughts on this subject from several months back, & my
thinking so far hasn't changed:

If you do autumn or winter pruning, the wisteria will grow rampantly in
spring. But if you prune in summer, you can really control its size &
direction of growth. The longest rangiest new vines should be removed in
summer, plus any that seem to be "tired" from age or showing signs of
sickliness, take those out entirely or back to the point of healthy plant. A
lesser autumn pruning would be to cut back young scraggly shoots no less
than to half their length, to as short as only a half dozen leaf points,
as this will induce strong spur growth where the next year's flowers will
occur. Twice-a-year pruning is typical for wisteria which will otherwise
take over everything.

If you don't prune at all it'll still bloom all right next year, but each
year you fail to prune, it will bloom less & less, & be harder to train
when it reaches emergency status. You can also grotequely over-prune to
create standing shrubs instead of vines, or even to shape them into
tree-wisteria, but I'd prefer a slightly more rampant natural look. If
they can be trained up a wall they look best hanging down from above, & if it
seems aesthetic in the location, you can prune the lower portions
dramatically to keep an area clear nearer the ground for other flowers.

-paghat the ratgirl

I guess this is the way yours is letting you know that she is trying
to get into the Washington climate and perhaps - since some of
it appears to be dead - it wouldn't do any harm to cut it back to
where it looks green and sacrifice perhaps some bloom in order
to give it a chance to restore itself?


That's what I was hoping it was. Pruning is an art I'm just very good
at yet. The guy who gave it to me, said the worse I treat it, the
better it will bloom. That's been true so far, but I think it is
adapting to Washington weather.

I doubt anything would
have grown anyway from the area of dieback, but if Paghat doesn't
chime in, a good nursery around your area maybe the best
answer. What kind of wisteria are you growing?

Actually, I think I'll do that. I have no idea what kind it is.
There's more than one kind, lol? Um, the white kind? }
Someone shoot me... please.

~Lilly

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/