Here’s a super-hardy, old-fashioned climbing vine just right for decorating that casual corner of your garden or landscape.
The wisteria is an easy to grow (basically no maintenance) plant that serves well on a free-standing trellis in the yard or at the end of your porch or at the side of your deck.
Growth requirements are minimal--plenty of sunlight will assure rapid growth and many blooms.
And soil does not have to be overly fertile, although the looser and more organic the planting site, the more robust the growth of the wisteria plant will be.
Wisteria gives you a great color combination of bright green leaves and (usually) purple blooms throughout much of the summer.
Although purple and violet are the most common colors for the pendulous clusters of blooms on wisteria plants, some varieties are known to have pinkish or white blooms.
As your wisteria plant begins to take off on its journey of rapid growth, you can make it easier to work around the base of the plant (mowing, mulching, etc.) by removing lateral shoots and leaves from the first few feet of the base near the ground--thus creating an open and clean tree-like trunk on the plant.
Once established, the wisteria plant needs almost nothing and should reward you with an annual show of bountiful and beautiful blooms.
These blooms are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds too, thus adding even more color and life to your garden.
A little bit of pruning and shaping every year or two can help to control and direct the spread and height of your wisteria plant.
Note how the wisteria in the bottom photo has been shaped in such a manner as to make the mailbox into a perfect “plant stand.”
A little bit of pruning can also prevent your wisteria from getting overly rambunctious and out of hand to the point of overpowering the landscape.
I’ve even seen a couple of old abandoned rural farmhouses that have been completely covered over by what had once been controlled and beautiful wisteria vines.
A minimum of effort in planting and maintaining your wisteria will result in a healthy beautiful plant that you can enjoy for many years.
