Puzzling wisteria

Lastboat

Dear knowledgable plant folk. I have just bought a compact wisteria (Amethyst Falls) to climb up my compact pergola. However, I’m a little puzzled as to how to plant or train it as it’s so twisted up, around and, ultimately, back down! Should I tease out the ends or will it just find it’s own way if I plant it in front of the post? 

Hostafan1

I'd carefully unwind it and plant it against an appropriate support structure

Lizzie27

Looks to me that it has been specially trained that way to keep it 'compact' which my Amethyst Falls certainly isn't. You may find that the branches are now so stiffened in that formation it would be difficult to untwine them. If so, you may be better off just planting the whole thing in the ground near your pergola and letting any new shoots go upwards and around the post. 

annacrosswaite

I’d just plant it in and not unwind it. I bought one of these and upset it unwinding it all. It hasn’t really
grown very much compared to
my other large wisteria. 

Lastboat

Mm... it is pretty stuck in that shape. I don’t think I’d be able to untwine it at all, other than the very ends. I’ve probably lost out on some height then. Oh well, I guess I’ll just plant it as suggested and see how is grows. The Zephirine Drouhin rose I planted by the other post is also stiffer than I hoped, making it difficult to start twining. It’s not going to plan...! Thanks for the responses guys. 

Obelixx

It will send out new shoots which you can train any way you like while they're young and green and pliable.

Lastboat

Thanks obelixx. My main concern is that when those main trunks thicken, they are all so twisted together (and point downwards) that there’s no space for them to grow and they’ll be  cramped/overcrowded - wouldn’t that be detrimental to the plant? I have no experience of wisteria so perhaps this isn’t the case but you see thick wisteria trunks on older plants and I just can’t envisage how the contorted main stems on this plant are going to look when the plant matures... Would it be better to hard prune it to about a foot high and start training it again upwards or am I worrying about nothing?! 

Obelixx

Those hard, brown stems in your photo already have buds and shoots already growing.  You just need to guide those in the direction you want them to go.   The brown stems will stay much as they are and, in time, will thicken and grow a bit taller but the main growth will be in those new shoots and they can be shortened or trained as you need.

Mine are not Amethyst Falls but they do produce masses of new growth every year and I do just cut back the ones that get too long or head off in the wrong direction and tie other stems in.

Lastboat

Those are beautiful! ...But you do still have a single straight trunk at the bottom! Perhaps the eventual twisted knot of a trunk will become a striking feature. Thanks for the encouragement. 😊

Obelixx

The top one has a trunk which splits about 3 feet up and goes off in 2 main branches which split again.   The smaller one's trunk is straight to about 5 or 6 ' and then breaks into branches.

I suspect yours will maintain that interesting, woven form.  As it matures and thickens you can choose to remove lower buds and just let the ones that form at the top level grow on.  That way the knotty formation will be visible.

purplerallim

My only suggestion is when you have it planted remove the frame it is on or that may cause trouble later. That will give the trunk room to expand.