It's definitely true; wisterias twin as you described. And, Wisteria frutescens (American wisteria) twins clockwise as Wisteria floribunda (Japanese wisteria).

In above post, please replace "twin" with "twine" and "twins" with "twines". My dang "e" key was just stuck and trying to make me look dumb. Yeah, that's it.

And in case you were wonding about other wisteria, I think Wisteria macrostachya twines clockwise, Wisteria brachybotrys twines clockwise, Wisteria venusta twines counter-clockwise, and Wisteria formosa twines counter-clockwise. I will leave it up to others to add directions of other Wisteria species (-:

Cooel. Now, tell the truth -- where'd you look that up? ;-)

Heven't you noticed this in gardens you visited?

Can't say as I have. ;-)

Evidently my Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls' didn't get the memo, cuz it's twining counterclockwise.

Marty

I've never heard of one twisting the wrong way. Which way are you looking at it, from the ground up, or from above?

Oh gee, now I'm gonna have to go look at mine. Would ya believe I whacked the heck outta that thing just yesterday, and never even thought to check which direction it was twining? ;-)

Okay, my frutescens definitely twines clockwise -- looking from root to tip.

I think Marty (Soeur) either looked at his wisteria from the top down or has some other type of wisteria (maybe mislabeled) because Wisteria frutescens should ALWAYS twine clockwise.

Nope, it's definitely W. frutescens 'Amethyst Falls', and it's twining counterclockwise around the bamboo support it's on. I'm not sure how one could confuse the direction whether looking at it from above or below.

Marty (I'm a girl)

Marty -- if you look at it from the tip to the root, it will be counterclockwise. If you look at it from root to tip, it will be clockwise.

Just think of a transparent clock face. If you look at a transparent clock from the back, it will be running counterclockwise. Same with the wisteria. Perspective matters.

Oh, okay. I was looking at it "backwards", I guess -- not really top down, just eye level. But when I reorient to look up at it, it's going clockwise. So the good news is I *don't* have a mutant wisteria and the rule still holds. :)

Marty

Soeur wrote: "Marty (I'm a girl)"

Sorry Marty. I'll try to remember, but as bad as my memory is.....well just hit me over the head if I call you a "he" again (-:

Glad to hear you don't have a mutant wisteria!

Wouldn't it be easier to define this as "climbing up and to the right" (clockwise) vs. "up and to the left" (counterclockwise)?

My wisp of wisteria that I dug up from the side of the road in S. Knoxville a couple years ago has finally established enough to start growing, and appears to want to grow "up and to the left". So that means we have Chinese Wisteria growing wild in S. Knoxville? It has a bit of a rusty sheen to the ends of the new growth.

The asian wisterias have naturalized all over the place. They are noxious weeds, very similar to kudzu. So I'm not at all surprised that you found one. ;-)

No kidding. I recall the first time I saw the rampant exotic wisteria on the east side of Lookout Mt. in Chattanooga. It was scary. I didn't check to see which way it was twining, though. :-)

Oh, and Brandon, no offense taken. "Marty" is one of those names that goes both ways, so how could you know? In my case, it's the nick for Martha.

Marty

Noxious weeds that happen to be traffic-stoppingly gorgeous for a couple of weeks near my house! I realize they are climbing and killing the native trees in that spot, but as you know I want to try to tree a wisteria this year and this is my guinea pig. Better to kill a noxious weed practicing treeing, no? :-)

Oh, don't get me wrong -- I LOVE wisterias! We had one the whole time I was growing up, and I love mine now. Ya just gotta keep em under control.

Incidentally, I'm trying the same thing with my wisteria. Good luck to both of us!

I hate to see trees getting strangled even if it is with something that produces pretty flowers. I like the look, but just don't have the heart to do that to a tree. The only way I would plant a wisteria growing around a tree is if I meant to treat both as short lived plants. One or the other of the plants (or probably both) will die prematurely because of this arrangement.

Good sturdy long-lasting trellises are great for wisteria! Also, wisteria makes a pretty tree if you take the time and have the patients to train/maintain it.

No, no, Brandon, I'm not trying to get it to grow up a tree! I'm going to try to make a "tree" standard out of it! Silly! I should have been more clear and not used "lingo". I don't want it to climb trees, either.

I am still confused, which way should my Wisteria Floribunda twine,should it be;

clockwise as i watch the tip of the new growth growing toward me

OR

clockwise as i watch the tip of the new growth growing away from me

I am definitely getting contradicting info from different sources.

The paper that came with the plant indicated that Japanese Wisteria should twine clockwise if viewed from above but this thread seem to have agreed the opposite. I have only had the plant a month and it has grown a lot. I just want to get it right from the start.

cheers
Rory

I've never seen a reputable (official?) sorce talking about a plant twining from above. It's like saying the hands on a clock move counterclockwise when viewed from the back of the clock. Lay down on the ground and look up into the plant. That is the customary way of describing twining because that's the direction that the plant normally grows, up.

Thanks Brandon

So, which way should my Wisteria Floribunda twine,
clockwise or counter clockwise?

Cheers
Rory

See above.

Rory,

Wisteria Floribunda is the Japanese Wisteria, so it should twine clockwise. Brandon noted that in his first reply above.

I need help on another bit of wisteria trivia. I have a small piece of wisteria vine that I planted. I stuck a portion of the vine under soil and weighed it down so it would root. It has established itself (rooted). My question is at what point do I cut it loose from the mother plant and replant elsewhere? Looking forward to all your ideas. Thanks, Rhonda

Thanks Brandon and hosta mom.

I have followed your advice but just to explain my confusion, please have a look at this link
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/moredocs/wisspp01.pdf

and read the third paragraph.
It appears to be a very well informed document.

I can find reputable sources that say both directions.

I think my Wisteria is now as confused as I am 8-)

Cheers
Rory

Here is a link that might be useful: Reputable source?

Rory, they happen not to be reputable about Wisteria floribunda twining. Hopefully they are a lot better at using my donations for other things though.

Rhonda, so far as when to seperate the layered plant from the original plant, I don't know that I can give you a quantitative answer. I would just look at it, and if it looked like it had enough roots to sustain itself, I'd chop it loose. I think when you look at it, you will get a "gut" feeling.

Jeepers Creepers! I just wanted to post a fairly dumb question but I got so dizzy reading all these TWININGS that I can barely recall what it was!!! ;-) Oh yeh... I've had a wisteria in a pot for at least a couple years. Bought it on a clearance rack (another rescued plant) with no tag. I have just lopped it off at about 3 feet so many times that for now it's just staying at 3 feet and looks like a standard. No twining going on at all no matter if I look up at it or down on it. What I wanted to know was how I could tell if this was the invasive kind. I thought I read somewhere that Japanese was and Chinese wasn't or visa versa. So after all this I guess I am asking if one is invasive and one is not and is there any way to tell which I have without the twining going on? Or maybe now that it's just standing there like a little topiary I should be happy and let it grow like that.

garden grace,
I have done a lot of research about Wisteria's before deciding on buying a Japanese and Chinese variety (one of each) to put on my arbors. I am not aware of ANY type of Wisteria that is not invasive, but there is an american variety that tends to not twine in any particular way, just whatever direction it needs to twine to climb.

Hey kcmojoe, I haven't heard of the Wisteria you mention that can twine in either direction. Are you saying that it's a variety of Wisteria frutescens? What variety is it?

I guess invasiveness can be relative and depend on factors such as climate, but many types of Wisteria are much less aggressive (or invasive) than others. W. frutescens and W. macrostachys, for example, are considerably less aggressive than W. floribunda or W. sinensis.

There is a native wisteria, and it may very well be one of the two stated above by Brandon. It may have a common name of Kentucky Wisteria, but I will not swear by this.

Kentucky Wisteria is the common name for Wisteria macrostachya; it twines clockwise.

Then I would recommend W macrostachya. No oriental Wisteria please (kudzu jr.)!

Or W. frutescens. I have W. frutescens 'Amethyst Falls' -- but I'd like to get rid of it. Too much vine, not enough flower.

Amazindirt, just curious, have you tried all the stuff usually recommended to increase flowering like pruning, root pruning, etc.?

To me, if you have to work very hard at making a plant flower, it's not worth it, but I was just wondering if some of the techniques commonly recommended really work.

Nah, I've just looked at it sternly and made a few threats. I do "prune" it (aka whack it back occasionally when it gets too ambitious), but that's it.

It's real problems are that it's in a great big pot instead of in the ground, that it doesn't get enough sunlight, and that it doesn't have enough room to spread the way it wants to. But I blame the vine anyway. It's more fun that way. ;-)