Wonderful Wisteria! - The Enchanting Climber

Wisteria, with its stunning cascades of purple or white flowers and intoxicating fragrance, is a perennial favourite among many gardeners. This vigorous climber, well known for its enchanting beauty, can transform the most ordinary garden into a captivating, fairy-tale, floral paradise!

It is certainly one of Beautiful Borders favourite climbers and we have been busy looking after some of our customers plants for many years. This year has seen an abundance of flowers for many people, although the late frost did mean some people lost flower buds before they opened.

Growing wisteria can be a rewarding experience if you follow some essential guidelines.

Location

Choosing the right location is key. Wisteria thrives in, and prefers, full sun but can tolerate partial shade. Ideally it needs well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter.  A sunny spot will encourage prolific flowering, which of course is the main attraction of this climber.

Planting

As with most perennials, Wisteria is best planted in the spring or autumn when the ground is cooler and moist. It will require strong support near a wall, sturdy pergola or fence that can withstand its weight and growth.  If planting more than one vine, then space them at least 10-15 feet apart to accommodate their growth.

Pruning and maintenance

Pruning your Wisteria is critical for maintaining its shape, health, encouraging an abundance of flowers and to stop it getting out of control!  This should be done twice a year – once in late Summer and again in late Winter.  Summer pruning is all about trimming back the long, whippy shoots, after it has flowered. These shoots should be reduced back to around 6 inches or 5 buds. Before beginning it’s helpful to be mindful of needing any new shoots to tie in, to replace old wood that might need removing during the Winter prune. Winter pruning involves cutting back the previous year’s growth to around 3 buds from the main stems. At Beautiful Borders we always like to give a good prune in Winter, when the plant has lost it’s leaves, making it easier to see what you want to keep and what is no longer needed. Don’t forget to ensure you train young plants by tying new growth to the support structure, to encourage them to grow in the desired direction – there’s nothing worse than a Wisteria making it’s home behind a guttering down pipe!

If maintained correctly, Wisteria will boast a beautiful display of blooms, year on year!

Check out or Facebook page for more wonderful photo's of Wisteria's, looked after by the BB team!