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marial1214

Wysteria

marial1214
10 years ago

does all Wysteria spread in a vine like fashion?

I have a 90 foot waist high stone privacy wall fronting my glass facade. I would like to know if Wysteria could grow across it if I planted it at one side. Or both?

Can someone tell me?

Comments (11)

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    10 years ago

    Wisteria height (length in your case!) is generally given as 25-30' so it might take 3 or more to cover that length. Is there something across the width that they can twine around? Are you prepared to do the necessary pruning and care to keep it controlled? Is the area in full sun? (They will not flower well in part shade...) Actually, growing wisteria as a hedge (essentilly what you're suggesting) is a classic way to grow them. Apparently in China it was not uncommon to grow them as a hedge shaped like a dragon! Do a Google image search on wisteria hedge and you'll find lots of pictures....

    Here is a link that might be useful: Google images wisteria hedge

    This post was edited by woodyoak on Thu, May 23, 13 at 15:28

  • marial1214
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No, nothing across the stone wall, just bulky stones, quite beautiful. Does the Wysteria need something to attach onto? Doesn't it have its own way of attaching? I have seen some vines that wrap and in the case of greens growing up the side of our home in France, that monster stuck onto the stucco walls.

    Our wysteria there went up one side of carport and down the other side, it make a sort of dome shape.

    How could it attach to my long stone wall out front? It would have to jump up on top and grow the length. And the wall is about 4 feet if you stand on ground on outer side but if you stand on inner side of wall, you are onmthe deck so the wall height there is closer to 3ish feet.

    Planting multiple plants every 20 feet wouldn't be a problem. It is direct sun from 11am through the afternoon.

    This is my dream. I just don't know how it would attach.

  • marial1214
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    OK so I would have to mount long wire on posts every six feet perhaps, for the stone part of the wall. The wall snakes around side of the house and becomes wooden spindles so it could wrap in and out of,the spindles probably by itself.

    The metal could set perhaps few inches above the height of the wall bringing the vine up high. I already know the stakes to use -- 6 foot green metal posts, I have them for the deer fencing out back but I wonder are they too tacky for the front of my home, they may be hidden behind the shrubs, fronting the stone wall.

    About this wire and posts, the wall is 6 inches thick, I only see the wire raised slightly higher so the thing is visible. I wonder if it will then lean onto and grow along top of wall.

    It sounds easy to do.

  • marial1214
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Can you see there is shrubs fronting the wall. Would the plants be able to grow behind these mature shrubs? Here is photo from front

    It ismexciting to know this may be possible!

  • marial1214
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I have looked at google images of wysteria. It's just like my house in France. Now to achieve,that here in Pennsylvania.

    My biggest problem is how can I view it from our big windows? It seems if I plant them on outside of stone wall where the dirt is, they will be visible to the street, not to us from inside the glass doors. By the way this is southern exposure, I read it is preferred for these vines all the,afternoon sun there.

    I'll need a trellis for,the wooden gate area too.

    I only want purple wysteria. No idea how many plants ill need. Those trunks get thick and I imagine the vines can cover a great deal of length of deck railing and wall.

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    10 years ago

    Based on those pictures (once I looked at them right side up!) I would not grow wisteria on that wall! Wisteria needs to be well controlled and, with the shrubs in front, it would over-run them and the shrubs would prevent access for pruning. If the vines got between the verticals on the railing, it would tear the railing apart as the stems got big and woody. It also looks like this is a shady spot - wisteria needs full sun to bloom....

    Perhaps youd be better off to grow one as a tree if there is a sunny spot that is in full view of the windows. Also, keep in mind that growing wisteria is a long-term project re getting it mature enough to bloom if you are planning on using the Asian ones - mine took 5 years to bloom and many take longer (mainly because they are - either or both - not getting enough sun or not being pruned to promote flowering). Are you preppared for that timeline and pruning commitment? People often have romantic ideas about wisteria and just let it run wild. That is not a good recipe for getting it to bloom well or for having a plant that is an asset instead of a liability!

    Here is a link that might be useful: my wisterias

  • marial1214
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It's hot sun there until around late afternoon early evening. I could put an arbor by the entry to the deck, by my stairs leading up to gate. Here is a photo. The sun is behind me peeking through a tree.

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    10 years ago

    Why are your pictures upsidedown?

    That still looks like a shaded area - the ivy on the ground also says 'shade' to me. You need at least 10-12 hours of sun for them to flower best. Both of mine get maybe an hour or two of shade at most but are otherwise in full sun from sun-up to sun-down. Since it takes a few years to get them to bloom in the best of circumstances, you're setting yourself up for frustration if you don't at least provide optimal light conditions for them. Do you have anywhere in full sun and in view of your windows where you could establish one as a tree? The tree form, in my opinion, is the ideal way to grow them - you get a good display and, if you plant them in the open where there is nothing for them to grab on to other than a supplied heavy support post, they are much easier to prune and control for root suckers and don't have a chance to run wild over any other plantings.

  • marial1214
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    All iPads post photos upside down unless the site is optimized for devices, in this case, gardenweb is not. iPads also sends photos upside down, there is,no way to correct that.

    Ok so I struck out with the wysteria out front. There are options out back along the pool and there is a chain link fence going around pool and gardens, in a half moon shape, from door to door. I could always put some in by those fences and just watch them cover up some length. In fact, that is a very good idea.

    On that curved fence I have very wide clematis bushes every 20 feet which refuse to flower since a few years. We are trying an experiment by not cutting them back for three or four years in a row to see if we can jump start them. This is our 2nd year of not cutting. When we bought the house they were full of blooms all summer. The 2nd year they were full. We did something wrong then because they stopped. Miracle grow or plant food pellets do nothing, but make the bush bigger with lots of greenery.

    I have a big purple garden out back where I can put a wysteria tree right in the center, too.

    I really appreciate all the feedback so far.

  • Conor MacDonald, Rhode Island, z6b
    9 years ago

    There are wisteria native to the northeast of north america, and they reportedly flower sooner and are less monstrously invasive: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=WIFR. I wonder how they'd perform in a kinda-shady PA location.