wisteria: How to plant wisteria?
Wisteria is a climbing plant, appreciated as much for its flowers as for its perfume. It mainly provides in spring beautiful and generous clusters of white, purple or pink flowers, ideal for adorning a garden or a facade. Although it is vigorous and easy to grow, a few rules must be observed for optimal results. Follow our advice and learn how to properly plant and care for wisteria.
When and where to plant wisteria
Like many plants, it is recommended to plant wisteria either in the spring or in the fall, if it is not freezing. However, you can also install it in summer, outside of the hot weather, if you take care to water it generously and regularly. The ideal is to choose a sunny location, where your wisteria will benefit from at least 6 hours of sun per day. It is on this condition that you will obtain abundant flowering. Wisteria naturally appreciates sandy and slightly acidic soils. In any case, avoid calcareous and/or clay soils, which cause yellowing of the leaves. For a good recovery, it must be planted in a mixture of garden soil and compost.
How to plant wisteria
Start by digging a hole about 40 cm deep (depending on the size of the plant) on a side 30 to 40 cm. Put some sand in the bottom and add compost or well-rotted manure and garden soil. Properly moisten the clod of earth: the best thing is to soak the plant for a few minutes in a basin of water until there are no more bubbles rising to the surface. Allow the water to drain and then plant the plant. Fill the hole before pressing down with your foot. Make a small border of soil all around the plant so that the water concentrates there and water abundantly. Also mulch the surface about 10 cm. Adding fertilizer is unnecessary. On the contrary, it risks encouraging leaf growth to the detriment of flower development.
Provide support
The wisteria is a vigorous and powerful climbing plant (it can sometimes grow 2 meters in just one year): it therefore needs either a very resistant support or a wall against which it can lean. At maturity, the foot can reach 10 m high and 20 m long… Provide a very solid stake of the size you want to give to your wisteria (without exceeding 2.50 m). Then eliminate the side branches as soon as they appear, but let those at the top develop (simply cut them at 2 or 3 eyes). If you want to let it climb up the wall instead, attach heavy wire about eight inches from the wall. At first, tie the twigs to the support. Thereafter, you will no longer need to carry out this operation: the wisteria will cling to it naturally. During the first two or three years, your wisteria will surely not provide many flowers. The plant indeed needs a little time to establish itself deeply.
The size of the wisteria
It is important to prune your wisteria correctly so that it does not invade all the space. The ideal period begins when the leaves begin to fall, and goes until the end of the winter period (wisteria is very resistant to cold). Only prune newly emerging shoots; in fact, the flowers of the wisteria develop on the stems of previous years. During the winter, prune especially the side branches, so as to leave only the main branch and just a few short ends (of one or two eyes) on either side. Be careful, however, not to prune in case of frost. In addition, be sure to remove faded flowers and leaves as you go: indeed, even if wisteria is not very prone to disease, the leaves frequently turn yellow and its flowers are toxic.
