Please can someone give me some advice on planting wisteria. I bought a plant from the garden centre for £18 that has 3 stems on it going round a bamboo cane (approx 3-4ft tall). Questions I have a-

1) Most of the websites recommend training one main stem of wisteria and branching off the side. Mine has 3 young stems. The wife says she wants to plait it, at the moment they all go round the bamboo stick the same direction. To do this I would need to completely untangle it, and plait it. Is this wise? Is it better to have one, why do garden centres sell them with 3 on them?

2) Its now July and I have read about pruning wisteria in August. Im guessing I dont need to prune mine at all as I want the upward growth, unless I get side shoots?

3) The wall of the house Im growing it on isnt South or West Facing. At the moment it is summer and it gets sun early morning until about 1pm. I take it this does not fulfill the definition of "full sun", and my flowers wont be as good as one in full sun. Will I still get a decent show, if pruned well?

Many thanks

A confused person with a wisteria

1) If you try platting it, the Wisteria will expend energy untangling itself. Ideally it will want to wind around strings or poles at its own pace and it will want to twist in the specific direction that it is already doing on the poles.

2) You don't have to prune it and you may not want to prune it this summer, especially if it is small. It will probably take a few years before it will flower.

3) I would be worried about the location you are trying to planting it in. They really do like lots and lots of sun. It might grow large and leafy, but may never flower.

In article ,
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Please can someone give me some advice on planting wisteria. I bought a
plant from the garden centre for £18 that has 3 stems on it going round
a bamboo cane (approx 3-4ft tall). Questions I have a-

1) Most of the websites recommend training one main stem of wisteria
and branching off the side. Mine has 3 young stems. The wife says she
wants to plait it, at the moment they all go round the bamboo stick the
same direction. To do this I would need to completely untangle it, and
plait it. Is this wise? Is it better to have one, why do garden
centres sell them with 3 on them?

2) Its now July and I have read about pruning wisteria in August. Im
guessing I dont need to prune mine at all as I want the upward growth,
unless I get side shoots?

3) The wall of the house Im growing it on isnt South or West Facing.
At the moment it is summer and it gets sun early morning until about
1pm. I take it this does not fulfill the definition of "full sun", and
my flowers wont be as good as one in full sun. Will I still get a
decent show, if pruned well?

Many thanks

A confused person with a wisteria





If you leave the cane in place it will destroy it in a couple of years
after which the stems will appear to wind around themselves, after a
period of time these will grow together to become one solid stem and form
a knarly trunk, platting would acheive no different result after a few
years so is hardly worth the effort. most important thing is to give it a
heavy watering every two to three weeks until its leaves change colour in
autumn (despite the present weather!)
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On Mon, 4 Aug 2008 23:31:21 +0100, Kotty
wrote:

3) The wall of the house Im growing it on isnt South or West Facing.
At the moment it is summer and it gets sun early morning until about
1pm. I take it this does not fulfill the definition of "full sun", and
my flowers wont be as good as one in full sun. Will I still get a
decent show, if pruned well?

Mine is SE facing and gets sun from sunrise to about mid-day, and does
quite well. It's been in about 4 years, flowers well, infact just had
a second flush of 4. I bought it in flower.
Main thing to remember is water. By a wall, you need to make sure it
gets enough water, especially in the first few years. I lost my first
one for not realising this.

I agree with advice given by Fluffball and Charlie.


Pam in Bristol

Thanks Guys,

Appreciate the advice, it really helps.

Its great to know that it stands a chance and what to do with it.

Alex