Barbel Bob Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hi All,We cut our wisteria back quite a lot in february, it had not been touched for years and years and was badly overgrown..........problem now is it looks dead [8-)]......My husband says there impossible to kill and it will start coming back to life soon! I noticed some houses today that already have flowers on their Wisteria mine hasn't even got a leaf! I never cut any of the main thick branches, just the wild thin ones that had grown 4ft deep high over the pergola.Should it be full with leaves by now with flowers?Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayJay Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Hi Julie, if you left some buds on, then it should spring back to life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vindolanda Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Hi, It should be ok. Ours is starting to flower now and the leaves will come later. It is ok to prune in Feb which is when the experts recommend the second prune of the year is done. Your first pruning for a while might set it back a bit but I agree with OH you cannot kill them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonrouge Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Wisterias are tough as old boots they come from China and Japan and in the mountains as well. Normally flowers first leaves after.Pruning regime cut back in July August to five buds of this years growth. Then to force flowers in Jan/Feb cut back again the years growth to two buds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbel Bob Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 Thanks to all!No sign of any life yet, just what i left in Feb........I will await with abated breath [:D]Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nectarine Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 We hacked one back to the roots a couple of years ago, and even dug down and pulled out the roots as it was growing too close to the house. There was nothing for over a year and I thought I had successfully dug it up .... but then there was a shoot, then a stem and then leaves - even though it was only about ten inches high!!! So I hacked it out again and the same thing happened. So don't worry yourself too much .... it may take a few months but I suspect your wisteria will flourish again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbel Bob Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 Thanks Nectarine,The wisteria is called Hysteria in our house..........................[:D] but thats another story!!!I will give it a while and not give up on it!Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I think I'm about to disgree with the 'you can't kill wisteria' therory, I'm afraid you can, we planted ours towards the end of 2005, it was loverly when we bought it from the garden center, but as winter approached, it did the normal lose the flowers thing, and we have been waiting for it to flower again ever since, this will be the third season of expecting this to be the one, there has not even been a leaf, so at the end of this year we will admit defeat,and dig it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seb47 Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Julie - sorry to be doing this little hijack of your original question, but I thought you wouldn't mind as there is some good advice above.My question - I bought and planted a healthy looking wisteria today from Leclerc. It's about 2 metres high and has lots of side shoots with leaves. Reading the above replies, am I right in thinking I've missed the flowers this years as the leaves are growing?Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Belle, it sounds to me that your plant never got established, BB s obviously was and probably has a huge root system.As for the just purchased plant, I suspect you would see the forming seed pods if it had flowered but the nursery may have cut them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I've become a wisteria expert because of a family house that has wisteria all over it. A couple of years ago, I lived there for 18 months. The wisteria was 70 years old: the head gardener remembered helping to plant it (yes, the head gardener is still alive aged 95 and attends the garden every day).It had not been cut back hard for over 20 years, only trimmed, and so had become very gnarled and looked unsightly in the winter. The gardeners took it upon themselves to cut it back to 2 ft of the roots. It was a very scary day for me as I was worried about the family feedback.The year after it grew back to a height of 10 ft with no flowers, which what the gardeners said would happen. I did not get any shoots from it until April and initially the buds were so tiny as to be almost invisible. When the sprung into life, it was rampant. We are now reaping the benefits of the drastic pruning with verdant growth. From now on, every year it will be pruned properly - as Vindolanda and DragonRouge have suggested.What strikes me from your posts, Barbel, is that you have not cut back the old wood. I would check on some websites about this. When the shoots start coming, you have to choose which ones you wish to train. You are unlikely to get flowers this year.I agree with RussetH that Belle's newly planted wisteria did not get established.Here is a link to the Roayl Horticultural Society site:http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0600/wisteria.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonrouge Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I must now eat my own words in that in last Sunday's heavy frost in the Vendee it wiped out lots and lots of Wisterias! It was a sad sight to drive through Fontenay le Comte yesterday. However some long established wisteria escaped the carnage.My early Jersey royals and under cover at that did not!rdgs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Taken on board your comments R H thanks for that , so do you think that we should plant wisteria at this time of year, so it goes through the summer before the winter hits home, so its established before then.Belle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Hi Belle, I forgot something, you may have to wait a couple of years for small wisterias to flower, they do better once they are established, some harder hearted gardeners than me cut the flowers off on the first year or two to allow the plant to put its energys into getting established.I think if you read the RHS link Cathy gave and give the right conditions and keep an eye on it, I would plant it. I rarely worry about planting times now, container grown plants have come on in leaps and bounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbel Bob Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 Hi,I eventually got 4 flowers, lower down on the truck which was not cut, so i live in hope for lots more next year!!!!! Then the leaves came so i did not kill it afterall!!!!However i have just noticed that there a small black spots on lots of the leaves, very small black flies??????? Can any one recommend on what i need to buy to spray it with.Thanks again!I tell my husband this forum is like having a best freind who knows all the answers!!!!!! Its the first place i turn when i need to know something!Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now