HG gardening
116 | AUSTRALIAN HOUSE &GARDEN
is there a more romantic garden vision than wisteria in full flower?
Helen Youngreveals the secrets of everyone’s favourite bloom...T
he abundant pendulous flower
clusters of wisteria are one of the
prettiest sights of spring, augmented
by a sweet, creamy perfume. it’s best grown
where you will walk underneath it – an
arbouror pergola is ideal – to allow full
appreciation of the blooms. as flowering
finishes,the divided leaves burst forth and
elongated seed pods can develop. The long
tendrils grow rapidly during summer, then in
autumn the leaves turn yellow before falling.
Vigorous and easy to grow, wisteria can
be trained across the top of a verandah or
grown as a weeping standard, but be aware
that it needs a very strong support for the
heavy stems and that its growth needs to
be controlled. it climbs by twining around
anything within reach.Left unchecked, it
will romp up tall trees, smother nearby
plants or even start growing through your
roof! They’re very long-lived plants, and
hard to kill, so plant wisely.CARE
Wisteria thrives in cool climates but is
adaptable to warmer areas outside thetropics. it is best in full sun with shelter from
severe winds, and is not too fussy about soil
as long as drainageis good. install a strong
support (metal in preference to timber)
before you plant. One plant can cover a
huge area, but if planting along a pergola,
space them at intervals of about 3m. Train
main stems straight up until they reach the
top of your support, then train horizontally.
Once the framework is established,
pruning is the main job. Cut back rampant
tendrils during summer and/or prune in
winter when it’s easier to see the stems.
Wisterias flower on old wood, so you must
leave three or four pairs of buds at the base
of each stem that grew during the year.
These develop into the short spurs that bear
flowers. Fertilise in early spring and again in
early summer to promotegrowth. apart from
possums,which eat leaves and flower buds,
wisteria is quite pest- and disease-free.VARIETIES
Japanese wisteria (W. floribunda) has slender
flower clusters about50cm long. The species
has mauve flowers but there are variations:‘alba’ is white (pictured), ‘rosea’ is pale
lilac and ‘Violacea Plena’ has violet double
blooms.‘Macrobotrys’ has pale lilac flowers
up to90cm long. Japanese wisteria often
produces long, furryseed pods (nB these
pods are poisonous). Chinese wisteria
(W. sinensis) has thicker mauve flower
clusters, about30cm long.W.‘amethyst
Falls’ is a smaller variety that needs less
pruning, with short,deep lilac blooms than
can repeat through summer. Silky wisteria
(W. brachybotrys‘Shiro Kapitan’) has
downy leaves and white, very fragrant
blooms that are held slightly upright.#WHY DOESN’T MY
WISTERIA FLOWER?✚Possums eating the flow er buds
✚Plants too young – they can take
5-7years to flower
✚Over-pruning – see carenotes above
✚Too much high-nitrogenfertiliser
promotes foliage not flowers
✚Too much shade
Photograph by Claire Takacs.Vine of the times