{"id":2094,"date":"2017-10-09T13:13:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T02:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/?p=2094"},"modified":"2017-10-09T13:29:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T02:59:49","slug":"wondrous-wisteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/2017\/10\/09\/wondrous-wisteria\/","title":{"rendered":"Wondrous Wisteria"},"content":{"rendered":"

In spring, my favourite climbing plant is without question wisteria.\u00a0 The sight of the massed purple flower is breath taking and the scent of the blooms almost intoxicating.\u00a0 Yet this climber can be feared for its potential vigour, with many examples of old specimens that have not been maintained running rampant in gardens across Adelaide.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t need to be this way.<\/p>\n

Varieties of Wisteria<\/h2>\n

There are a number of different varieties of these deciduous climbers available to home gardens, and while most people are more familiar with the common purple flowered forms seen adorning verandas and fences, and covering pergola, there are also white, pale pink varieties, some with extra long flowers up to 1m long, and even a double form.\u00a0 Being deciduous climbers they are perfect for situations where you want summer shade yet still have the winter sun shine through.<\/p>\n

\"FumioMaster pruning<\/h2>\n

Recently I engaged the services of master Japanese gardener, Fumio Ueda and his son Shinya, to train the wisteria I had planted over the pergola on the western side of my home.\u00a0 These plants had been in for four years, yet only just taken off in the last twelve months.\u00a0 Fumio and his son have pruned and trained wisteria at my previous two gardens, and those of many of my clients, and I have seen the difference they make, with maximum flowers and minimum growth the result.\u00a0 I asked Fumio about his top tips when buying and planting wisteria and here they are:<\/p>\n

What to buy?<\/h2>\n

When choosing which wisteria to buy, it\u2019s all about the flowers!\u00a0 Have a clear vision of what you colour you like?\u00a0 Do I want a thick cluster of flowers? (commonly Chinese wisteria, Wisteria sinensis), or do I want a gentle cascade of petals under some foliage? (commonly Japanese wisteria, Wisteria floribunda).\u00a0 For the flower connoisseur, visit www.parrsnursery.com.au who is the main wholesale grower of wisterias in Australia and supplies the retail nurseries around SA.\u00a0 If you are buying at a nursery, ignore how many flower buds it has.\u00a0 Find a plant with the thickest, strongest looking trunk!\u00a0 How many to buy?\u00a0 If it\u2019s purely for canopy you’ll only need one plant.<\/p>\n

Where to plant them?<\/h2>\n

Wisteria loves full sun so if you are planting a new wisteria, make sure it gets full mid-day sun all year round.\u00a0 Avoid planting tall trees on the Northern side of the wisteria.\u00a0 If you have an existing wisteria, make sure to prune back any tree branches hanging directly above.<\/p>\n

What care do they need?<\/h2>\n

Wisteria also loves water, especially during summer months (November to March).\u00a0 Their roots are shallow and wide-reaching like \u2018Octopus tentacles\u2019.\u00a0 They love stretching their roots under pavers, irrigated lawn, and thickly mulched garden beds.\u00a0 The key is to use your irrigation to encourage the roots to spread.\u00a0 If the only drippers you have are around the base of the trunk, connect more drippers to cover a larger area.<\/p>\n

Pruning?<\/h2>\n

\"wisteria\"<\/p>\n

Encourage the strongest shoot to become the trunk.\u00a0 If you have more than one trunk, work towards reducing it down to one.\u00a0 The wisteria branches should ‘hug’ your pergola. This way, the flowers can cascade into view.\u00a0 Wisteria will naturally try to climb. If you are trying to cover the pergola, tie the branches down to get more coverage.\u00a0 The side shoots which grow off the branches should be cut short to create flowering spurs giving the appearance of a \u2018water dragon\u2019 (see Fumio\u2019s drawing).\u00a0 If you have enough shade, cut all branches which shoot up above the canopy.\u00a0 The key to wisteria pruning is to be stubborn and merciless!\u00a0 And as far as when to prune?\u00a0 If you’ve had a go at pruning your roses in July, it\u2019s time for you to get up on the ladder!<\/p>\n

\"wisteria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In spring, my favourite climbing plant is without question wisteria.\u00a0 The sight of the massed purple flower is breath taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,11,2],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080.jpg",1080,810,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080-1024x768.jpg",1024,768,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080.jpg",1080,810,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wisteria-1080.jpg",1080,810,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Felicity Playford","author_link":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/author\/felicity\/"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"In spring, my favourite climbing plant is without question wisteria.\u00a0 The sight of the massed purple flower is breath taking […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2094"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7820,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094\/revisions\/7820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sophiespatch.com.au\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}