Pergolas and Wisteria
The_Wannabe_Gardener
NorthamptonshirePosts: 13
Good morning all! I'm new here and firstly need to admit that I am not a gardener in any sense of the word. So I need to apologise in advance for the many posts I will likely make while I try to design my garden.
So the garden is a totally blank canvas as it is a new build and it was rather large. We both like the idea of some sort of modern Japanese fusion and our first idea is to install a pergola against the sunny side of the house. Hubby to be is dying to grow Wisteria up it but my darling mum keeps telling us it will destroy the house. If we were to plant the Wsiteria against the posts furthest from the house, would we be OK to grow it there?
Thank you
Britt
So the garden is a totally blank canvas as it is a new build and it was rather large. We both like the idea of some sort of modern Japanese fusion and our first idea is to install a pergola against the sunny side of the house. Hubby to be is dying to grow Wisteria up it but my darling mum keeps telling us it will destroy the house. If we were to plant the Wsiteria against the posts furthest from the house, would we be OK to grow it there?
Thank you
Britt
0
Posts
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/81668/advice-re-building-a-wire-trellis-for-wisteria
If you think your pergola is strong enough to take the weight and you will be sitting under the pergola looking out at the garden, it will frame the view and you will see it more if planted on the outside rather than at your back, at least in the early years. Eventually it will cover the whole structure anyway.
Oh and no need to apologise, we were all newbies once and never stop learning, so ask for as much advice as you like!
Many are planted directly by house walls yet do not spoil the foundations and they are twiners, not grippers, so won't damage any pointing. They need a strong support initially but, with age, develop woody trunks and stems that are self-supporting. I have two inherited mature ones that are self-supporting against walls and have a younger, white one which is already growing woody stems and which I'm about to plant against a wire mesh fence.
If you are building a pergola, by all means plant against its outer edge, rather than against the house, as this will allow the plant to get enough water at its roots. You can use a combination of posts, beams and tensioned wires to support the stems while they are young and bendy and to train them in the direction you want.
They need a twice yearly pruning regime to encourage flowering buds to form - take stems back to 7 buds per stem in July and then again to 2 buds in February. Give them a good feed and mulch in February and you'll have a lovely display, getting better over the years.