Frozen wisteria
 

We have two fairly prolific Wisterias in our small garden in Italy.
They (or their bases) were under a couple of feet of snow for 2 or 3 weeks,
which they wouldn't have been expecting, and now they don't look very well.

Are Wisteria reasonably hardy?
And are they likely to come back to life.
(I think I detect a tiny sign of life, but I could be mistaken.)


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College Dublin

Frozen wisteria
 

On 18/03/2012 18:53, Timothy Murphy wrote:
We have two fairly prolific Wisterias in our small garden in Italy.
They (or their bases) were under a couple of feet of snow for 2 or 3 weeks,
which they wouldn't have been expecting, and now they don't look very well.

Are Wisteria reasonably hardy?
And are they likely to come back to life.
(I think I detect a tiny sign of life, but I could be mistaken.)

Wisteria are very hardy, and will withstand many degrees of frost. But
one possible problem could be failure of the graft (Wisteria are almost
invariably grafted as they are named cultivars which can best be
propagated by grafting). I suppose that it is just possible a faulty
graft might allow entry of a small amount of water, which, if subject to
a repeated freeze/thaw cycle, enlarges and eventually causes the scion
to separate completely from the stock.

I had a Wisteria apparently die on me, but it eventually sent up new
shoots. These. surprisingly. appear to be the scion and not the stock.

--

Jeff

Frozen wisteria
 

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
On 18/03/2012 18:53, Timothy Murphy wrote:
We have two fairly prolific Wisterias in our small garden in Italy.
They (or their bases) were under a couple of feet of snow for 2 or 3
weeks,
which they wouldn't have been expecting, and now they don't look very
well.

Are Wisteria reasonably hardy?
And are they likely to come back to life.
(I think I detect a tiny sign of life, but I could be mistaken.)

Wisteria are very hardy, and will withstand many degrees of frost. But
one possible problem could be failure of the graft (Wisteria are almost
invariably grafted as they are named cultivars which can best be
propagated by grafting). I suppose that it is just possible a faulty
graft might allow entry of a small amount of water, which, if subject to a
repeated freeze/thaw cycle, enlarges and eventually causes the scion to
separate completely from the stock.

I had a Wisteria apparently die on me, but it eventually sent up new
shoots. These. surprisingly. appear to be the scion and not the stock.

--

Jeff

I would agree with Jeff, very hardy -30c no problem but graft failure is a
real problem, we do the bulk of ours from cuttings to avoid it but if you do
buy a grafted plant it is always worth planting deeply and in later years
layering a stem down to ensure you don't lose the whole plant.


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk