With her breathtaking floweringla Glycine (Wisteria) is a true enchantment. It well deserves its place in a garden to which it brings a note of the most delicious romanticism. Its growth is extremely fast, which makes it possible to create in a short time a ideal privacy screen thanks to its twining vines that roll up on any type of support provided it is resistant to any test. Let’s see how to plant a Wisteria, what care it needs, and also take a look at its flowering.
Plant a Wisteria
The planting of the Wisteria takes place in spring preferably, but it is also possible to install it in place in summer or during autumn in a mild climate. The main thing is to avoid periods during which the climatic conditions are particularly marked, such as strong winds, scorching temperatures, drought or even frost.
To plant a Wisteria, there is nothing very complicated.
- Dig a hole larger than the root ball.
- Place a good layer of drainage on the bottom.
- Cover with a shovelful of topsoil mixed with a little sand and compost.
- Install the root ball in the planting hole, taking care to tilt it slightly towards its support.
- Plug the hole.
- Tamp at the foot.
- Water.
It is useful to install a mulch to a thickness of 10 to 12 cm to keep the soil cool and limit the proliferation of weeds.
Growing Wisteria
The Glycine is content to any good garden soil as long as she is not not calcareous. It is therefore not very demanding as to the nature of the soil but still appreciates light soils. She likes them sunny exposures sheltered from prevailing winds. Rusticit can withstand temperatures of around -15 to -18°C.
It can be used alone on the lawn where it is enough to lead it into a tree, or as a climbing plant to adorn a trellis, an arbor, a gazebo, a pergola, even to dress the facade of the house or the enclosure wall. Its support must be particularly resistant so that over time, the vigorous vines of Glycine cannot twist or break it.
Entretenir sa Glycine
Any gardener, even a beginner, can grow a Wisteria because it is easy to live with.
Water
Watering should be regular but above all not excessive during the first year after planting the Wisteria. Thereafter, it is of course necessary to water when necessary, but moderately. As with many plants, vigilance is required in the event of severe drought.
Fertiliser
We avoid giving fertilizer to the Glycine because it would only promote the development of the foliage and delay flowering. Thereafter, at most one can spread a small shovelful of compost at its foot before the resumption of vegetation, in February, but this is not absolutely essential.
Cut
The size of the Wisteria is highly recommended, unless you want to lead it into a tree or let it climb freely along a trunk, or even in a live hedge. pruning can be done up to five times a year because this plant grows fast… very fast, and in a disorderly way. It is therefore better to control your vines. Trimming the Wisteria regularly is also useful for abundant flowering since it greatly promotes the formation of flower buds.
Pests and diseases
Wisteria are resistant plants, little affected by pest attacks or diseases. At most one can observe aphids or some scale insects on a Wisteria installed in a confined space, too hot, too dry, and where the air circulates badly between the branches. To get rid of these parasites naturally, do not hesitate to install ladybug larvae on your wisteria.
As to gastropods, they are very fond of the tender young leaves of the Wisteria. To protect the young shoots against their attacks, you can regularly spread a slug repellent or, better, attract blackbirds, toads and hedgehogs, large predators snails and slugs.
Flowering Wisteria
A Wisteria can take several years before starting to flower. By logic, a grafted subject produces its first flowering much more quickly than a Glycine obtained by cuttings or sowing. But it is definitely worth being patient because the flowers of Wisteria are of a breathtaking beauty and can totally cover a pergola.
Among the various varieties of wisteria, Asian or American, some produce flowers divinely scented, but all flower profusely under good growing conditions. We love the essential Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) or the Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda), the latter being much appreciated for its spectacular flower clusters of almost 60 cm in length, even up to 100 cm. As for A charming wisteria ‘Rosea’, it produces a multitude of pink flowers who smell like honey. But we can prefer a Glycine plus compactebetter suited to container culture as Wisteria frutescens Amethyst Falls. Whatever the variety chosen, the spectacle is always striking.