Wysteria

alanaldred5

Hi
We've lived in this house for 4 years now and have 2 mature wisteria's. Every year they have both not flowered until this year one of them has actually flowered! The first question is why has it only flowered on the bottom half and is just the usual green leaf at the top. There is a few flowers on the top half but not as prolific as the bottom. The second question is now it has flowered do you care for it any other way to if it didn't flower.
Before anybody answers please be aware that I am a complete novice!!!!

Lizzie27

Does the bottom half get more sun than the top or is that you have perhaps pruned the top off more often?  Hard to tell sometimes, plants don't read books! 

Yviestevie

Wisteria need to be pruned twice a year in order to flower properly.  If you do a search on the internet for 'Alan Titmarsh pruning wisteria' you should find his youtube video that gives great information on how to do it and when.

alanaldred5

Thanks for all your comments but now here's the new problem. It is now doing what it normally does. It's started to grow like mad! Since I put on the first post the new tendrils are 600mm long and the leaves have multiplied and now starting to cover the the flowers. I'm going to have to prune it because it's starting to look a mess. 

fidgetbones

Where are you? Mine have only just started to show fat buds.  Have you got a photo of this plant?

alanaldred5

We live in South West France. I'll sort out some photo's for you.

alanaldred5

Up-date just in case anybodies interested.
Now the petals of the flowers are dropping which is really disappointing my wife. The plant itself didnt seem dry but I gave it half a can of water anyway.

Dave Humby

Hi Alan, the blooms don’t last long I’m afraid. If you have any frosts, wind or rain that time will be reduced even more. Wisteria often take a few years before they bloom. The key to the bloom / foliage ratio is pruning. Lots of advice on the net for that but you need to reduce the lengths of the stems down to 2 or 3 buds in early January. This will promote flowers over leaf. As for the tendrils, I call them overnighters, just trim them back as you catch them. I have three which grow up and over a pergola. Another week and they’ll be in full display mode although we’ve had a day of heavy rain here today which has knocked off quite a lot of the developing flowers unfortunately. I’ll post up some pics at the end of next week if I remember. 

Obelixx

We have two, also inherited, one facing south and one facing east so gets going a bit later than t'other.  They have both flowered earlier than usual for here this year and the perfume is overwhelming when the breeze drops.   The first is already dropping petals like snow and the foliage is starting to grow.  The other is looking very bonny but in a week or two they'll start shooting out new tendrils.

I just cut those back to the mains frame of the plant when they get long enough to ambush me as I walk past.  No counting back to 5 or 2 buds, just cut.   They both flower sporadically all summer once the first flush finishes and Ijust keep cutting tendrils.

Once they drop their foliage in autumn I go in with loppers and remove any stems heading up round gutters or trying to get under the roof or sticking out beyond their buildings.   I give a generous dollop of pelleted chicken manure in spring and water during dry spells.  We also keep the trunks bare of new shoots as they appear.

Half a can of water isn't enough.  Give it a full 15 litre bucket once a week rather than a half a can now and then.

South


East facing 

Samridout92

Obelixx said:

We have two, also inherited, one facing south and one facing east so gets going a bit later than t'other.  They have both flowered earlier than usual for here this year and the perfume is overwhelming when the breeze drops.   The first is already dropping petals like snow and the foliage is starting to grow.  The other is looking very bonny but in a week or two they'll start shooting out new tendrils.

I just cut those back to the mains frame of the plant when they get long enough to ambush me as I walk past.  No counting back to 5 or 2 buds, just cut.   They both flower sporadically all summer once the first flush finishes and Ijust keep cutting tendrils.

Once they drop their foliage in autumn I go in with loppers and remove any stems heading up round gutters or trying to get under the roof or sticking out beyond their buildings.   I give a generous dollop of pelleted chicken manure in spring and water during dry spells.  We also keep the trunks bare of new shoots as they appear.

Half a can of water isn't enough.  Give it a full 15 litre bucket once a week rather than a half a can now and then.

South


East facing 

WOW is all I can say that east facing beauty is incredible. 

alanaldred5

Thanks very much. Everybody has been so helpful.