I need help with my Wisteria!

[blondie58]

Hi- I am looking for any suggestions to help me with my wisteria plant.

I live in sunny CO and have a wisteria plant that is doing great- except that it has never bloomed! It gets plenty of sunshine, but I planted it because I wanted those beautiful flowers in my garden!

Does anyone have any suggestions? THanks so much.

[Blue Gardener]

1. One of the most often asked gardening questions

Master Gardeners get this question all the time. You certainly aren't alone with this problem. Here is a good link to information from the Ohio Extension Service. Wisteria can take several years to bloom, and don't be afraid to prune them back. Plus, too much nitrogen can produce a lot of foliage, but no blooms. Good Luck, and be patient!

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1246.html

[TygrBright]

2. Abuse it. Anything short of killing it outright with chemicals.

Drastic root pruning finally worked for me. REALLY drastic. It was a huge, about 15-year-old wistaria with a northeast exposure. I tried a bunch of things... pruned back shading branches from a nearby tree, used a recommended phosphate supplement, pruned the branches back hard in late spring, blah-blah-blah...

Finally asked a neighbor with a big ol' vine from about the same vintage, similar exposure how she got such gorgeous blooms. She told me to come around and she'd show me, she was about ready to "threaten its life" again, since it had been "slacking off" the last year or so (you couldn't'a told by me...)

She got a sharp spade and RAMMED it in, hard and deep, about a foot out from the main trunk, right up to the wall on both sides. Yanked out tangles of near-surface roots, rammed it in some more. Took a Felco and whacked off several of the older main branches. Dusted her hands and said "That oughta convince it I'm serious."

I did the same to mine and, behold! The next spring I got a few blooms. Year after, even more. I asked the woman at the nursery about it and she said she didn't recommend it much, because it scared people, but it was a last resort-- sometimes they'll bloom if they think you're trying to kill them.

I'm not RECOMMENDING this, mind you. (And I'd counsel against it if your specimen is young-- just give it time, in that case.) Just letting you know what happened with mine.

informatively,
Bright

[NJCher]

3. Good advice from Tygr

I have a wisteria (actually, have two) and it finally bloomed into its fourth year. What I had done is cut its vines back and I got an incredible amount of blooms the following year. It was so pretty walking under my pergola because it was dripping--dripping I tell you--with purple flowers. And the fragrance! Oh!



Cher