Wisteria blooms vigorously in spring, producing clusters of lilac-hued flowers on new growth. In late July, or after flowers have faded, it’s time to prune. Learn more about growing and caring for wisteria vines.
Wisteria is a high-climbing, long-lived vining plant with cascades of blue-to-purple flowers that look spectacular hanging from a pergola or archway in spring and early summer. However, this vine is a fast and aggressive grower—often reaching 30+ feet long—and is known to grow quite heavy. Wisteria vines will work their way into any crook or cranny they can reach, so it’s advised not to plant them too near your home.
Wisteria flowers are beautifully fragrant, providing a feast for the senses. After flowering, a bean-like brown pod stays on the plant until winter. Blooms only appear on new growth.
Note: Plant wisteria with caution! All parts of the wisteria plant contain substances called lectin and wisterin, which are toxic to pets, livestock, and humans. These toxins can cause anything from nausea and diarrhea to death if consumed in large amounts.
Is Wisteria an Invasive Plant?
Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) and Japanese wisteria (W. floribunda) are not native to North America and are considered invasive species in some states. The native wisteria species, American wisteria (W. frutescens) and Kentucky wisteria (W. macrostachya), are great alternatives to the Asian species, so if you’re planning on adding a new wisteria to your garden, we suggest that you go with one of the North American species.
Wondering how to tell the difference between the Asian and North American species?
Asian wisteria plants are aggressive growers with fuzzy seed pods, while North American wisteria plants are not quite as aggressive in their growing habits and have smooth seed pods and fruits, as well as more-or-less cylindrical, bean-shaped seeds. Another difference is that American and Kentucky wisteria’s flowers appear after the plant has leafed out in the late spring, whereas the Chinese wisteria’s blooms appear before its foliage.
Planting
When to Plant Wisteria
- Plant in the spring or fall while the plant is dormant.
- Wisteria can be grown from seed, but those grown from seed often take quite a few years to reach maturity and produce flowers. It’s recommended to purchase established wisteria plants or start from a cutting.
Where to Plant Wisteria
- Plant in full sun. Though wisteria will grow in partial shade, it probably won’t flower. Sunlight is essential.
- Plant wisteria in fertile, moist but well-draining soil.
- Add compost if your soil is in poor condition; otherwise, wisteria will grow in most soils. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.
- Choose a site away from other plants, as wisteria grows quickly and can easily overtake its neighbors.
- Wisteria is also known for growing onto (and into) nearby structures, such as houses, garages, sheds, and so on. We strongly recommend not planting wisteria too close to your home!
- Wisteria vines require a very sturdy structure to climb on, such as a metal or wooden trellis or pergola. Mature plants have been known to get so heavy that they break their supports, so plan with care and build your structure with hefty materials.
How to Plant Wisteria
- Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and two to three times as wide.
- Space plants 10 to 15 feet apart.
Growing
Caring for Wisteria
- 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 aid with flowering. Scratch a couple of cups of bone meal into the soil in the spring and then add some rock phosphate in the fall. Similar claims of increased flowering have been made about liquid tomato or rose fertilizer. Read more about soil amendments.
- Water your plants if you receive less than one inch of rain each week. (To know how much rain you are getting, you can place an empty food can outside and measure the depth of water with a measuring stick.)
- For more blooms, try cutting back the rampant shoots every 2 weeks during the summer.
Pruning Wisteria
Pruning is the secret to good flowering, as wisteria only blooms on new wood.
Prune established wisteria in July or after flowers have faded. Cut side shoots to about 6 inches long, while retaining the climbing branches. This will create lots of short spurs all along the main vines. In late winter, prune the same side shoots, leaving two or three buds on each.
Just don’t make the mistake of never pruning. Do the following at any time:
- When pruning an established but untamed plant, be ruthless. Cut the stem several feet below the desired height; there will be an upsurge of new vegetative (not flowering) shoots in the following spring. Give it space to grow and full sun.
- Remove suckers from the base of the plant to control spread.
- Remove seedpods at will or leave a few for winter interest. If you bring any indoors for display/decoration, be aware that the ambient warmth of the home may cause them to explode.
- Do you have a new wisteria? Cut the vine back severely right after planting. Then, the next year, cut the main stem 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.
- Get more tips for pruning wisteria.
When Your Wisteria Won’t Bloom
Wisteria are notorious for taking a long time to bloom. Don’t expect flowers for 2 to 3 years after planting. Some readers have sworn by this method of “shocking” the plant to spur on blooming:
- Take a shovel and drive it 8 to 10 inches into the ground about a foot and a half away from the wisteria’s main trunk to slice into some of the roots.
- Damage about half of the roots and the bush will be shocked into reproduction (flowering).
- Don’t worry—it’s difficult to hurt this rampantly growing, unrestrained, often-invasive plant!
Failure to flower may also be due to frigid winter temperatures that have injured the flower buds, excessive nitrogen fertilizer that has promoted foliage over flowers, and/or insufficient sunlight.
Types
Native Wisteria
If you are located in North America, consider planting a species of wisteria native to the continent, such as:
- American wisteria (W. frutescens) grows in Zones 5 to 9. It’s native to a range of states covering Virginia to Texas, southeast to Florida and north up through New York, Iowa, and Michigan. The vine grows 25 to 30 feet long with shiny dark-green leaves and large, drooping lilac or purple-blue flower clusters, which appear after the plant has leafed out. The blooms will only appear on new wood. However, note that the flowers tend to be more lightly fragrant than the Asian wisterias’ flowers.
- Kentucky wisteria (W. macrostachya) grows in Zones 4 to 9. This late-season bloomer is native to the southeastern U.S. and is similar to American wisteria (it is sometimes considered a variety or subspecies of American wisteria). Kentucky wisteria bears mildly fragrant bluish-purple flowers after growing only 2 to 3 years, making it the quickest wisteria to bloom.
- ‘Blue Moon’ is an extra-hardy cultivar of native Kentucky wisteria, with showy silvery-blue clusters. It blooms in late spring or early summer. It’s cold hardy to –30°F.
Non-Native Wisteria
- Chinese wisteria (W. sinensis) and Japanese wisteria (W. floribunda) are non-native, invasive species, so we do not recommend them for North American gardens, despite the fact that they are regularly sold at nurseries and garden centers. They are hardy in Zones 5 to 9 and are capable of growing 30 to 60 feet in length (and beyond in the Southern U.S.). Two common varieties of Japanese wisteria include:
- ‘Honbeni’ (syn. ‘Honko’): popular, bears clusters of pink flowers in late spring
- ‘Alba’ (syn. ‘Shiro Noda’): bears lovely clusters of pure-white flowers in late spring
Hi, Charlie,
Do you know if this vine is indeed wisteria? If so, you could harvest the pods when they are ripe, and then plant the seeds (after soaking them in water for 24 hours before sowing); however, it is possible that you may not get the same plant, if the mother plant is a hybrid. Also, growing from seed may take many years (more than 10) before the plant would bloom. Serpentine layering, similar to what you mentioned, is another method of propagating wisteria in late winter/early spring. This method involves burying sections of a stem still attached to the mother vine (you may need to use ground staples to keep it in place), after making a shallow cut about an inch or so long on the underside of each buried part of the stem (containing a bud) in the area between nodes (buds), and waiting until each buried section of the stem sprouts roots. (Alternate sections of stem with a bud aboveground, section of stem with bud and shallow cut below ground.) Roots may develop in several months to a year. Then you can separate the rooted sections and pot them up; plant oudoors in the following spring.
But perhaps the best method (and one that would allow you to care for the cutting at home) is to take softwood cuttings (young shoots that are starting to harden but haven't yet become woody) in late spring to midsummer; to do this, select a healthy, young side shoot that is not too tender/soft, and not in bloom, and that has nodes (areas where the buds are located on the stem) close together. Best time to do this in in early morning, when the plant stems have more water. Cut a piece about 4 to 5 inches long, ideally that includes the tip of the shoot, and includes at least 2 sets of leaves. Cut just below the lowest node (leaf joint), allowing about 1/4 inch of stem below the node, and remove any leaves on the lower 1/3 of the stem. Treat the cut end with rooting hormone (the powder or liquid is available at garden centers). Make a little hole in the rooting medium. The medium should be well-draining, such as coarse sand, or a 1:1 mix of peat moss (or equivalent) and perlite or vermiculite. If you just have a few cuttings, a pot at least 3 or 4 inches deep will do fine; make sure it has drainage holes. Place the treated end of the stem in the medium. Insert to a depth of about one-third the length of the stem, where the lowest pairs of leaves still left on the cutting are just above the surface of the medium (buds should be pointing upward). Keep each cutting moist at all times--it is susceptible to losing moisture quickly; to do this, if you don't have a greenhouse, you can place the container in a plastic bag, but open it to let air circulate every few days for about 10 or so minutes. Water and mist as needed. Do not let the plastic touch the cutting. Keep in an area that is around 70F and provide bright indirect, not direct, light. Wait about 4 to 8 weeks for roots to develop. Then, harden the cuttings off for 2 or so weeks and then transplant into individual pots; still provide a moist environment while hardening off, but gradually let air circulate for longer and longer periods. Hope this helps! Good luck!
This certainly shows the invasive potential of wisteria! They are relentless. In fact, if they are considered invasive in your state, you should consider not letting it grow back.
Otherwise, you should aim to keep it contained. Purchase or build a sturdy wooden or metal trellis, pergola, or arbor to let it grow up. Be sure to firmly anchor the support in the ground so that it doesn't blow over when the wisteria reaches a greater size. Unfortunately, it could be a while until the plant flowers again, though it sounds like the plant is still vigorous.
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