The plan is for the wisteria to twine around the tree trunk, eventually reaching the top... That's is generally what wisteria does in nature without any help.

...covering the ugly bare trunk with foliage This will need a little help, guiding from you to get it going around the tree slowly, in a spiral, and not straight up.

My fear is that if I let the wisteria grow unchecked and without support, it may grab onto the loosening bark that it will inevitably pull off, or wrap itself around the tree to a certain height and then collapse from its own weight.

Each year's gowth from the wisteria will turn woody, like a tree trunk, likely holding the bark in place longer than it would have stayed attached on its' own, and holding the wisteria in shape and position. My Mom and I have a little wisteria tree in her yard that holds itself up from a single trunk. It's about 5 years old and already bloomed well the past few years.

Will the wisteria find a spot to girdle the trunk and support its own weight by itself (I'm not worried about killing the tree)? The word girdle is usually referred to when a tree is fatally strangled, or an entire ring of bark is removed to cause an organic, albeit slow, death. I think you're saying you want it to spiral up this trunk a and hold itself there? If so, that should be easy if you routinely (couple times a month) guide the shoots more horizontally than they are naturally inclined to go until those parts become woody and it grows out of your reach. Also, pinching the growth tips when you are "arranging" your vine will promote more branches to grow, increasing the "volume" of foliage at the lower level. Vines tend to go up as fast as they can, then spread out as far as they can, and it's easy to end up with a "naked at the bottom" vine if no guidance is given.

Any ideas? I'd like to create a beautiful tangle of vines around this immense stump over the next few years. My idea is to use more than 1 kind of vine, if that interests you. Wisteria bloom for a few weeks, and that's it. Something to bloom later would help increase the beauty from your efforts on this spot. Next year, your wisteria should have a stiff, woody structure on which you could add one of the smaller Clematis, or some type of annual vine. As the wisteria gets bigger, the larger and/or more numerous are the vines you can grow along with it.

Just revisiting this after inspecting the wisteria yesterday. I was hoping for some blooms this year, but I think I will need to judiciously prune and add some sort of support this summer.

These vines are entering their 5th year now, so I should be getting close to some blooms *crosses fingers*. They get supplemental water when we're especially dry in the summer, but I haven't fertilized since the second summer when they had some yellowing leaves. I think an oak to the southeast provides a tad more shade than the wisteria would prefer...but I don't want to make this a "Why won't my wisteria bloom?" thread.

The thick branch at the top of the stump blew down in a storm 2 summers ago and fell on one of the vines' trunks on the way down. It lost a pretty substantial vine, but there are a couple smaller and the main vine survived with some damage. There's a little scarring, but it has recovered just fine. Although I inspect it a few times a month during growing season, I never did train the vines horizontally to secure them to each other around the stump, as I really wanted to get the height developed. They slowly started winding around on their own and everything looked fine until a section of vines pulled down a large portion of bark last fall...same side as the fallen branch damage.

I haven't added more vines, and I like the look of just the foliage. (Honestly, I have several bed plants that I wish wouldn't flower at all, because I think it distracts from the foliage! I'm looking at you, Pulmonaria...)

So...I'm going to get our crazy tall ladder out this summer and start attaching eye bolts in strategic places and training/pruning in earnest.

It has grown to cover most of the trunk up to about 20 feet tall, a little more dense and taller than in this pic, from a year and two days ago. I would estimate the total trunk to be nearly 30 feet tall.

I may even prune off the extra short vines at the base this year. They have served as a reminder to DH not to mow too close or hack off "that woody weed" next to the stump.

Maybe I'll update this thread in another five years!

I would love an update on how your Wysteria is doing. I’m thinking of doing the same thing on a tree we have. Would love to see pictures.

Me too - I’m about to plant a youngish wisteria at the base of a walnut tree I’ve just pollarded