I don't know about Milwaukee, but at the Chicago Botanic Garden north of Chicago, they've had a wisteria-covered pergola for years in their English Walled Garden. I believe they grow the Kentucky wisteria. The vines are as thick as wrists and bloom dependably.

I live in Milwaukee...had a wisteria growing between my chain link fence & my parking slab (@ 2 1/2' wide) when I moved in here 2 1/2 yrs ago. The thing was a beast! Grant you my house had been rented before I bought it & no one maintained the garden so it had grown out of control for several years. It was @ 8' x 6' with no true support & looked like a big umbrella. I tried to get it under control with major pruning to develop a single trunk & turn it into tree form. Every day I would go out & find 4' long new shoots coming out of it & frankly it scared me how crazy it grew & finally got rid of it. When I did I found roots literally 4" wide growing 10' away from where the original plant was. So yes they do grow quite well here but be careful about the space issue. Once established they can grow like mad! I am not sure of the variety I had...a neighbor told me she believed she saw it in bloom once (finicky bloomers as well) & it was purple if that helps at all.

Oh, I love wisteria! I had not even thought to try it this far north. I hope yours does well.

Try it on an East exposure. I know someone growing it in Cedarburg and they trim it to 40'. 'Aunt Dee', Kentucky, or 'Amethyst Falls' are all good selections for the area. I think 'Amethyst Falls' is supposed to bloom the best, and certainly in containers ours did at work, but it's a newer variety. 'Aunt Dee' got left out over winter in a 1gal pot on accident in 2002/2003, and lived just fine with almost no snow cover.
Nick

Just a note on encouraging wisteria bloom -- When the plant achieves the desired height (often in one season!) prune off the terminal leader (central stem) to a pair of horizontal buds or branches. Train the horizontal branches along the edges of your pergola or arbor and prune off anything that wants to grow vertically on these branches. This will stimulate the necessary hormones for flowering rather than rampant growth. Good luck!

Thanks for the thaughts everybody. I'll be sure to post a pic when I put up the big pergola next to the garage this next year. If anybody is interested the Hawk's Nursery here in the Milwaukee area has a nice gazebo with some native Wisteria (not sure the spec. or var,) covering it, it's quite a site.

I didn't know wisteria could grow here in MKE either. Is this something that is easy to grow from a cutting? From what it sounds like, people would be willing to get rid of some wisteria that has gotten out of control?

I like how you think, Bud ;-)

Allen Lacy called it a thug in one of his books. He listed it in the chapter he discussed plants that he would/should never have planted. There was also a picture of a wisteria growing on a support made of steel beams.

Despite all the warnings, I succumbed to the beautiful pictures. I planted a chinese one up my brick wall after installing eyescrews & electical wires. The vines pulled the eyescrews off the wall. I was also getting tired of dragging out an extenstion ladder every month to trim the octopus. So last year, I cut the bugger off and painted the stump with concentrated Roundup!

I have seen wisterias grown on an arbor made of tree trunks. That arbor was a forest by itself and must be at least half a city lot! It must be a sight in spring though.......

Good luck with your decision.

I think they have one on the pergola by the rose garden at Boerner Botanical in Hales Corners. Not sure of variety & I can't recall ever seeing it bloom.