wondering what people's thoughts are on the following..........as the back garden opposite mine has an old wisteria, must be at least 30 years old given the thickness of the trunk and although it provides a great backdrop neither of the neighbours whose gardens it grows across worry about pruning it, well not properly anyway other than one of them hacking some of stems that got in the way of his gate back in july.

as they don't live on my street i don't know either of them other than a quick hello and i was thinking of introducing myself in august and offering to prune it properly for them to maximise flowering. admittly they might think i'm a little strange, but us gardeners can be........

anyway i never plucked the courage up to ask them, but i'm thinking of writing them a xmas card and offering to prune it in January to maximise flowering, and my question is twofold. firstly do u think a letter is best or should i just knock on their door, and secondly does it matter that the wisteria was not given its august prune as i'm guessing you can still prune each stem back to 2/3 buds in january and this will encourage more flowers. fyi its the wisteria variety that's purple and flowers follow the first leaves

thanks for your help

"Tiger303" wrote through Gardenbanter, not direct to uk.rec.gardening like
the rest of us...

wondering what people's thoughts are on the following..........as the
back garden opposite mine has an old wisteria, must be at least 30
years old given the thickness of the trunk and although it provides a
great backdrop neither of the neighbours whose gardens it grows across
worry about pruning it, well not properly anyway other than one of them
hacking some of stems that got in the way of his gate back in july.

as they don't live on my street i don't know either of them other than
a quick hello and i was thinking of introducing myself in august and
offering to prune it properly for them to maximise flowering. admittly
they might think i'm a little strange, but us gardeners can be........

anyway i never plucked the courage up to ask them, but i'm thinking of
writing them a xmas card and offering to prune it in January to
maximise flowering, and my question is twofold. firstly do u think a
letter is best or should i just knock on their door, and secondly does
it matter that the wisteria was not given its august prune as i'm
guessing you can still prune each stem back to 2/3 buds in january and
this will encourage more flowers. fyi its the wisteria variety that's
purple and flowers follow the first leaves


August prune? What's that? I prune ours all summer long to keep it in some
semblance of order and that's all I do until now, at leaf loss, when I prune
hard back to 2 or 3 buds to encourage flowering buds/spurs (like fruit spurs
on fruit trees) cutting out anything in the wrong place at the same time.
Regarding your neighbours plant I would simply keep quiet, they obviously
like their plant the way it is, and it is their plant not yours. If they ask
you, then fine, otherwise it's nothing to do with you.
Seeing as it's totally overgrown, if you did prune it properly they would
probably think you a total butcher and certainly not thank you for your
considerable time/effort.
--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

Bob Hobden wrote:
August prune? What's that?

'They' do say twice a year. But I, like you and millions of others do
summer pruning or ours would end up around the chimney and pass under
my front door )

I prune ours all summer long to keep it in some
semblance of order and that's all I do until now, at leaf loss, when I prune
hard back to 2 or 3 buds to encourage flowering buds/spurs (like fruit spurs
on fruit trees) cutting out anything in the wrong place at the same time.
Regarding your neighbours plant I would simply keep quiet, they obviously
like their plant the way it is, and it is their plant not yours. If they ask
you, then fine, otherwise it's nothing to do with you.
Seeing as it's totally overgrown, if you did prune it properly they would
probably think you a total butcher and certainly not thank you for your
considerable time/effort.

Some people, like me, like to keep everything from the garden and I
mean everything for artistic purposes, decoration, drying, card making
etc... and burning too. If someone would touch my garden, more to the
point my wisteria and cut the little dry stems at this time of the
year, I'd ... err... would very much be very mad at them for I keep
those and make possies and add them to my cut flowers, especially with
lavenders.

can you grow Wisteria from cuttings ?
tom Atkinson
"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Tiger303" wrote through Gardenbanter, not direct to uk.rec.gardening like
the rest of us...

wondering what people's thoughts are on the following..........as the
back garden opposite mine has an old wisteria, must be at least 30
years old given the thickness of the trunk and although it provides a
great backdrop neither of the neighbours whose gardens it grows across
worry about pruning it, well not properly anyway other than one of them
hacking some of stems that got in the way of his gate back in july.

as they don't live on my street i don't know either of them other than
a quick hello and i was thinking of introducing myself in august and
offering to prune it properly for them to maximise flowering. admittly
they might think i'm a little strange, but us gardeners can be........

anyway i never plucked the courage up to ask them, but i'm thinking of
writing them a xmas card and offering to prune it in January to
maximise flowering, and my question is twofold. firstly do u think a
letter is best or should i just knock on their door, and secondly does
it matter that the wisteria was not given its august prune as i'm
guessing you can still prune each stem back to 2/3 buds in january and
this will encourage more flowers. fyi its the wisteria variety that's
purple and flowers follow the first leaves


August prune? What's that? I prune ours all summer long to keep it in some
semblance of order and that's all I do until now, at leaf loss, when I
prune
hard back to 2 or 3 buds to encourage flowering buds/spurs (like fruit
spurs
on fruit trees) cutting out anything in the wrong place at the same time.
Regarding your neighbours plant I would simply keep quiet, they obviously
like their plant the way it is, and it is their plant not yours. If they
ask
you, then fine, otherwise it's nothing to do with you.
Seeing as it's totally overgrown, if you did prune it properly they would
probably think you a total butcher and certainly not thank you for your
considerable time/effort.
--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

"Tom Atkinson" wrote
can you grow Wisteria from cuttings ?

Yes, normally from softwood cuttings, that's the new young green bits.
Take them as soon as the new growth is big enough in the spring, pot and
cover with a plastic bag or similar to keep their atmosphere moist.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London