Wisteria

I vaguely recall mention of planting wisteria. Are we still going to do that? I only have seeds but am confident that I can find starts.

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We’ve got a ton of Wisteria growing through the railings on both our front porch and back deck. If you’d like some starts, I’m sure I can get my wife Leslie to cut some for you. She loves the stuff, says the flowers look like grape clusters.

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Oh, that would be splendid! :heart_eyes: Thank you!

Sure thing. I know I’ll be at the space Sunday for the Letterpress meeting at 2…I can bring them then.

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I will be out of town until next week, but hopefully someone from garden committee can grab them? :relaxed:

I’m sure they can, but I can also just wait until you get back…just let me know your preference.

The wisteria situation is complex. We already have a source for the wisteria (this may change), and we have a specific place we want to plant it. What we’re completely missing is quality soil in the preferred location, as wisteria is a picky sort of plant. The site needs to be excavated and appropriate dirt filled in (not too much of a problem). Lastly, wisteria is best transplanted in early spring or late fall when the plant is dormant. I think late fall sounds like the winner here as we’ve already missed the spring window and we’ll need time to negotiate the other requisites.

Edit: my source was idle conversation with various fellow gardeners, but here also is the first article I came across Transplanting Wisteria Plants - How To Transplant Wisteria Vines.

Edit 2.0: @Noahjwc Would your wisteria donor be able to dig up an 18" root ball in the late fall perchance?

Edit 3.0: Cuttings actually do seem quite appropriate, perhaps we can nurture some and be ready to stick them in the ground by fall or next spring. Perhaps even from the source plants of both @David and @Noahjwc as one may be more willing to root than the other, and of course, we could plant one of each if that works out and let them battle it out once in the ground. [3.1] How, When, and Where to Take Cuttings for Wisteria Propagation - RootingForBlooms.com

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Wisteria Battle Royale! I can see it now! Blooms crushing blooms! Who will be victorious!

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The battle is stopping wisteria once it gets out of control. It looked amazing growing up the post and the canopy on my pergola deck. Cutting it back was a pain every year and the post that it was growing up eventually began to look like some sort of horror movie prop. Once I finally realized I was losing the battle I cut it down and tried to rot out the roots. Like an unstoppable rebel force it kept regrowing. Year after year new shoots would spring to life from under and around the deck. After about 5 hard fought years of cutting and stump rot I finally dealt it it’s final blow and celebrated with a glass of lemonade on my scorching hot uncovered deck. (that stuff will cool the air underneath it by about 15 degrees or so.) True story.

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@Erik Good points. My family has had trouble in the past with wisteria vines and trees. I love them. But have to really commit when you plant them, as they can be incredibly difficult to relocate/be rid of. Additionally, whatever they are trained to climb needs to be sturdy and durable, as I’ve seen them choke other mature trees to death.

That being said, @David, if you and your wife can spare a couple for me personally, I would love to start nurturing a couple for my future home.

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We’ll try!

If not, she has a few softwood cuttings starting to root.

I’ll bring the ones that live.

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Sure. You want regular cuttings, or the ones that have gripped rails from our deck and ripped them loose in their clutches?

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Our location is solid. The area surrounding the burried bed we’ll make for the vine is 90% gravel, and the remaining 10% which is dirt is of low low quality. I don’t expect it trying to spread, and if it does there’s twenty feet of crabgrass between it and the next closest structure.
The pavilion itself sits on thick steel posts and sports a “tin” roof, so vines ought not cause much damage or try too hard to proliferate underneath.
This spot was made for wisteria.
In a life of skepticism, I find myself a true believer!!!

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Just letting you know, my wisteria grew an approximately 3-4" thick vine under the deck but over the concrete patio and back underground. It also grew under my hot tub (underground) and under and into a row of boxwoods about 15 to 20 ft away.

I’m not saying don’t do it. It really is cool to look at and sit under. But id say it’s less than 10 years before it gets really bad. It’s truly amazing how fast it grows.

I’ll see if i can find a picture later.

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Could I get in on the wisteria cuttings as well?

I wanna compare a few things between the two plants. :nerd_face:

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@David A little bit of A, a little bit of B? :grin:

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Are we planning to select native wisteria so we don’t end up with the more invasive Chinese and Japanese varieties!? That seems sensible and would be reason to limit our choice(s) to stock of known lineage.

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Worst case, non-native species make for great bonsai.

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Native to Kansas or the untied states?

I was unaware native wisteria was a thing. I feel a research rabbit hole coming on, apologizes for any future info dumping. :joy:

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Dump it all! :green_heart::herb: