Botanical name: Wisteria
Plant type: Shrub
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Sun exposure: Full Sun, Part Sun
Flower color: Red, Blue, Purple, White
Bloom time: Spring
If your garden is an outdoor room, wisteria provides the drapery and slipcover—to camouflage a view or provide living shade over porch and pergola. Something between a vine and a shrub, wisteria blooms vigorously in spring with showy, cascading flower clusters that provide quick-growing color.
However, note that it can take a good six years for a newly established wisteria to start flowering—sometimes longer!
The vine may grow 10 feet or more in one year! This gives the artful gardener a paintbrush with which to cover the landscape-canvas. Wisteria is also beautifully fragrant providing a feast for the senses.
Note: Some types of wisteria are considered invasive pests; check with your local cooperative extension. All parts of this plant, especially the seeds, are poisonous.
Planting
- Grow in fertile, moist but well-drained soil.
- Ensure placement has full Sun. Though wisteria will grow in partial shade, it probably won't flower. Sun is essential.
- If your soil is in poor condition, add compost; otherwise, wisteria will grow in most soils.
- Plant in the spring or fall.
- Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and 2 to 3 times as wide. Space plants 10 to 15 feet apart.
- Choose a site that will not overwhelm nearby plants as wisteria grows quickly and can overtake other plants.
Care
- Each spring, apply a layer of compost under the plant and a 2-inch layer of mulch to retain moisture and control weeds.
- Some gardeners swear by phosphorus to aide flowering. Scratch a couple of cups of bone meal into the soil in the pring and then add some rock phosphate in the Fall.
- Only water in the summer if rainfall is less than 1 inch per year.
Pruning Wisteria
- Pruning is the secret to good flowering.
- Prune wisteria in late winter. Remove at least half of the prior year's growth, leaving just a few buds per stem.
- If you want a more formal appearance, prune again during summer after traditional flowering.
- For more blooms, try cutting back the rampant shoots every two weeks during the summer.
- Do you have a new wisteria? Cut the vine back severely right after planting. Then, the next year, cut the main steam or stems back to 3 feet of the previous season's growth. Once the framework is full size, shorten further extension growth in midsummer to where growth began for that season.
- Informally grown, mature plants need little or no subsequent pruning.
- For a formally trained plant, cut side shoots back to 6 inches in summer, then shorten them again in winter to 3 buds.
- Wisteria will resprout with vigor if cut back severely, but this pruning should be avoided, if possible, because new shoots may take some years before they flower.
Pests
- Dieback, crown gall, leaf spots, virus diseases, Japanese beetle, aphids, leaf miners, scale insects, and mealybugs can be problems.
Recommended Varieties
W. floribunda (Zones 5 to 9) of Japanese origin, is capable of growing 30 to 60 feet (and beyond in the South).
- 'Honbeni' (syn. 'Honko') is one of our favorites, bearing clusters of pink flowers in late spring.
- 'Alba' (syn. 'Shiro Noda') bears lovely clusters of pure-white clusters; it blooms in late spring.
W. macrostachya (Zones 4 to 9) or Kentucky wistera is a late-season bloomer. It climbs to about 25 feet.
- 'Blue Moon' is an extra-hardy wisteria with silvery-blue clusters and blooms in late spring and often again in the summer.
Wit & Wisdom
Wisteria still not blooming? Some readers have sworn by this method: Take a shovel and drive it eight to ten inches into the ground about a foot and a half out from the trunk to slice into some of the roots. Damage about 1/2 of the roots and the bush will be shocked into reproduction. It is very difficult to hurt this rampantly-growing, unrestrained, often invasive plant.
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Comments
my wisteria started to fall.
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By vicki lewis on May 24
my wisteria started to fall. then i noticed that it was lying on the ground. when i went to check it, it was broken at the roots. did it get too wet? is there any hope for it?
I planted my wisteria about
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By sandy carpenter on May 22
I planted my wisteria about eight years ago and it bloomed the next year. This year it is the most beautiful I have seen. The fragrance is alittle overwhelming after awhile but it didnt seem to bother the family of robins nesting in it. i am going to try to get a start from it for my cousin.
My wisteria smells like cat
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By Helen Elizabeth on May 22
My wisteria smells like cat pee when it blooms. What is wrong with it? It blooms in May here in Middle Tennessee.
There are a few reports that
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By Almanac Staff on May 24
There are a few reports that American wisteria (W. frutescens), especially 'Amethyst Falls', has a disagreeable odor, such as smelling like cat urine. However, other people who have grown them have not had that experience. Could your wisteria possibly be an American type?
Forgot to say..I am in NY
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By florrie on May 20
Forgot to say..I am in NY State..
Transplanting wisteria
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By Anonymous on May 20
When transplanting, will it bloom the following year or will it take another 7 years to bloom again?
Wisteria growing into a Palo Verde tree
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By Anonymous on May 16
My wisteria in Carefree, AZ, likes to shoot up into the nearby palo verde tree. Should I allow it to do that or pull those out of the tree. Thanks in advance for your reply.
We suggest that you prune the
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By Almanac Staff on May 16
We suggest that you prune the vines that are on the tree. If you let the wisteria grow into the tree it will eventually kill it.
My wisteria is about 5 years
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By Anonymous on May 9
My wisteria is about 5 years old and has never had blooms. What should I do?
wisteria blooms
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By Anonymous on May 13
It took my wisteria 7 years to bloom. I sprinkled bone meal in the soil around the roots and it bloomed the next spring. It is well worth the wait. My is beautiful.
wisteria and pets
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By Anonymous on May 8
I have three cats and two dogs on my farm where I want to plant Wisteria. Should I be concerned because I have heard the plants and seeds are very toxic.
Soil conditions for Wisteria
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By Anonymous on May 7
Will Wisteria grow in soil that is part clay?
Yes. All the soil where I
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By Anonymous on May 18
Yes. All the soil where I live is made of of at least some clay and wisteria grows wildly and abundantly here.
Dieback ?
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By Anonymous on May 4
I have two wisterias (about 3 years old ) they just bloom beautifully in spring, after all the flowers died, the new leaves come out nicely in one tree, the other one, new leaves come out too, but very small and barely full the branches. At the sane time I found out some black thing on both trees I sprayed with bug spray. The bugs went away, but the new leaves still couldn't grow in full size like the other.
Aphids or scale insects can
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By Almanac Staff on May 16
Aphids or scale insects can attack the wisteria and cause a general decline of the plant. Keep checking for bugs and treat as necessary. The leaves on the weaker tree should be fine next year.
Will this grow as a ground cover?
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By Anonymous on May 4
If left alone will this vine out and grow as ground cover? I have a hill side that I would like to have some beautiful flowering plants on.
Vica Minor (creeping myrtle)
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By Anonymous on May 7
Wisteria probably could be grown as a ground cover, but vica minor (or creeping myrtle) is a nice thick evergreen cover with dark green leaves and purple flowers in the spring.
Growing from seeds
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By Anonymous on May 2
The house i grew up in, in california, had the most beautiful wisteria plant that was trained to grow along the edge of the house. It would bloom multiple times a year. When my parents moved they took some seeds with them. My mother recently sent me some and I have planted 4 seeds. They seem to be growing well in the pots, but my question is how long should they stay in pots? when should they be transfered to the ground?
Be aware that wisteria
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By Almanac Staff on May 16
Be aware that wisteria started from seed will take 10 to 12 years before it flowers. You can keep the seedlings in pots for some time. When the seedlings get bigger transplant to bigger pots. When they are a foot or taller plant them in the ground.
HELP with 3 trees
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By Anonymous on April 25
They have not been cared for & are way out of shape! (We recently moved to the new place)It is late April and in Maryland. Can I shape them? How much can I cut off now or wait (don't want too)
If you prune now you will
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By Almanac Staff on April 26
If you prune now you will loose some of the flowers. You can prune all the side branches and shoots and leave a couple of main stems with branches that may bloom this summer. After the wisteria has bloomed you can prune more.
Flowers, no green leaves
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By Anonymous on April 24
I planted my wisteria about 7 years ago. I waited a long time for blooms. Now I have blooms but hardly any leaves/vines. What gives?
how to extend the blooming time
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By Anonymous
I live in Jerusalem and have been growing a wisteria in our garden for over 10 years. We happily enjoy every spring lots and lots of flowers, but they last only about 2 weeks. Please let me know if there is a way to make the flowers last longer? Also the flowers are a pale purple, and although they are beautiful, I would really prefer a deeper purple. If I add some acidity to the soil could that strengthen the color? Could you recommend another method? Thanking you in advance.
Will wisteria flower if it's
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By Anonymous
Will wisteria flower if it's planted in container?
Wisteria grows best if
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By Almanac Staff
Wisteria grows best if planted in the ground but it can be grown in a container. Plant the wisteria vine in a container that’s 2 to 4 times the size of the one it originally came in. Water and feed regularly. The vine needs to be pruned to a manageable size when it starts growing and you may need to transplant it to a larger pot later in the year.
wisteria
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By Anonymous on April 25
thanks - that is exactly what I need to know.
the internet is wonderfu
Freezing threat to blooms!
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By Anonymous
Is there anything that can be done to keep the buds from freezing? This happens all to often. Like this year, the vine is loaded with blooms and a cold snap is being predicted with overnight freezing temps. I have had too many bloomless years just because of this.
If your wisteria is not too
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By Almanac Staff
If your wisteria is not too big you can cover the buds with a sheet, burlap or plastic when you know that you are going to have freezing temperatures.
can I grow wisteria from a vine cutting?
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By Anonymous
I live in St. Augustine, FL and was recently visiting South Carolina. I cut two pieces of vine from a Wisteria plant will I be able to root and grow this?
Make sure the vines are 3-6
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By Almanac Staff
Make sure the vines are 3-6 inches long and have a couple of sets of leaves. Put good potting soil in a pot and moisten the soil. Dip the ends of the cuttings into rooting hormone. Make a hole in the potting soil and place the cutting in the hole. Cover the pot with plastic and make sure that the soil doesn't dry out. In 4 to 6 weeks you should have a wisteria seedling growing.
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