Wisteria is a classic favourite for many gardeners, especially with their long blooming periods of flower. Unfortunately as the years go by, less and less flowers are appearing on your Wisteria. If you have her in a semi shaded area in your garden, it may be that you are allowing your wisteria to go down the wrong track.
Wisteria will put on a large number of suckers as it grows older. This means it will start producing smaller and smaller flowers if not dealt with. One way to bypass this is to trim off all the flowering growth in the first 2 years. If you do this your wisteria should be able to put on a much stronger and healthier growth to replace the flowers.
Unless you have a severe overgrowth of roots as I once did, she should be a fairly easy plant to propagate. As long as you can cut the large branches back to where they originated, then you should be able to find a decent branch to reproduce. I find that cutting the branches back to a size where they just stretch out invites new growth and if you have the patience to wait, then this is the best method.
Wisteria flava is the main reason why many people try their hand at growing this flava. This is because the wood used to make some of the worlds most beautiful intertwined vines is obtainable right here in the UK. However like many things with Wisteria, you need to watch out as there is a mould in the wood called sphagnum moss. This moss keeps the moisture and the nutrients close to the surface and can actually make it harder for growth. If the moss is not removed, you end up with a soggy mess and the worst of it is that this soggy mess can kill the vine.
I give these a try for a change and for the first year I could see the new growth and wondered if it was allergic to Overdamp as the weather was certainly not helpful. After the first year I decided not to mess with this again as it is just too big and too hard to deal with. Overdamp is something that always occurs when you use wire to try and shape the root growth or try and keep the root growth straight. The growth will always go wider than you want them too and limiting the root growth will usually mean that your Wisteria will have stunted growth or stop completely.
For the next year I will again use wire to help shape the root growth and will not use Overdamp again. I will also try and use a friable soil as the main part of my garden is gravel, a sandy type of soil would be best to use on Overdamp areas.
One thing to remember on Wisteria is that growth happens on the side the plant is facing. You need to think about where the trunk is going to be next to the growing apex. If the growing apex is on the side facing the north in your southern hemisphere, then the Wisteria is going to want a sheltered spot or an open area with good air circulation. Whereas in the northern hemisphere, the facing south or east facing apex will have a opposite effect on the growth. Because of this, it is a good idea to tie the Wisteria to a cane that covers some of the heavy metalwork. A flexible piece of wood that is metal will do just fine. I tie the cane to the metal on all the sides of the trunk and it seems to work well.
Trees and shrubs with large root systems are a problem for me, so I only use about a quarter of my garden as a border and the rest of the garden as an open grassy field. For the open grassy, I add a wigwam of Blue Carpet (Pak choi) and Strawberries that grow in a wigwam way above the ground. The result is a range of colours that surprise the eye.
Larger gardens work well for me, because the width of the accepted version of the garden is wider and it is easier to handle. Visithttp://www.theGardenPages.comis a picture of the garden my friendViews of a Japanese garden. Alsohttp://www.about-gardening.com has a picture of the same garden with the panels in the actual garden, andhttp://www.howtogardening.com has a similar but smaller version of the same garden with no panels. I think it is time to have a look whetheror not we want a ‘Miniature’ garden in our reality.
