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Advice for the non gardener!

GirlinaboxGirlinabox Posts: 14
in Problem solving
Hello, good morning to you all. 

I hope you lovely folk can help out a non gardener such as myself.. :)

We are currently renting a house from a relative, the house has an absolutely beautiful garden which sadly wasn't able to be looked after until we moved in as the previous owner got poorly. We would really love to turn it around so have started doing odd bits but as we are both complete novices we are struggling with a few things and one of them is how to look after a climbing plant which is in a very sorry state. Our neighbour tells us it is a wisteria. It's pretty dead at the moment but it does get lots of leaves on in the summer. We trimmed it back after last summer when we first moved here but the trellis it is attached to is all broken and falling down. We'd love to know how best to fix this and give it some love so that it can become healthy before summer arrives. I have taken a picture and will try to figure out how to upload, but some advice would be so very welcome. We'd love the owners of the house to be happy with what we do here, we really want to look after the place and all of the wonderful garden trees and plants here. 

Thank you for your time. 
Best wishes. 

Posts

  • GirlinaboxGirlinabox Posts: 14

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,687
    If it is a Wisteria, once the stems grow thicker and stiff, the trellis is not that essential. However, some grow quite fast and that space looks quite restricted. I would wait and see how it grows, then in late summer you could thin out some branches and shorten some too to avoid it getting too big.
  • PosyPosy Isle of Wight.Posts: 3,601
    On the other hand, it looks like a fairly small piece of trellis. You could replace it now, tying in the growth to the new one. It will be much more difficult when the plant is in leaf and if it is a good wisteria, you will want to shape it, not damage it by taking away the support.
  • AnniDAnniD South West UKPosts: 11,021
    There's some information here that you might find useful  :)
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=242

    Welcome to the forum by the way !

  • GreenmumGreenmum Posts: 23
    If this is any help Adam from gardeners world says just remember 2 7 with wisterias. You trim to second bud in February (2) and seventh bud in July (7). Don't know if it works as mine is a baby so haven't needed to prune yet. 
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Brittany, France Posts: 3,709
    I don't understand why people insist on growing wisterias in places where obviously the space is restricted. :/
    You are invited to a virtual visit of my garden (in English or in French).
  • GirlinaboxGirlinabox Posts: 14
    Hi all, 

    Thanks so much for your replies! Replacing the trellis is a good idea and I think I'd like to have a go. Although I have missed the right time to prune would it be too much of an issue thinning some of it out now and then leaving til say August? The 2/7 tip is a good one and easy to remember, thank you!

    My neighbour has just offered me a book on gardening to look at which includes wisteria tips so going to go and get that later. Apparently the wisteria only had 1 flower on it, that was a few years back. I'm determined to get it to flower, if not this year then next 😊

    The space isn't really that restrictive, it's a large house so it can grow wherever it desires! Or do you mean at the base? Thanks again anyway, really appreciate it. Hoping to learn a lot more from the forum too.

    Have a great afternoon all 😀
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