The first wisteria blooms of the season

[dragon]

hi ken
i will go and beg the old lady as she is as mean as a bear with a thorn in its toe
but i should get around her. when is the best time to take cuttings thanks for the info
cheers dean

[pjkatich]

Hey Paul,

That is looking absolutely stunning. I am very interested to know your regime is (feed pruning etc), I have read a fair bit on them & theres lots of conflicting bits of information. In general I just stick with Peter Valda's advice in his book 'Wisteria' but that only relates to garden plants & does not have any specific info regarding growing them as a little tree.

I am guessing its a floribunda hybrid, I have 'Jako' growing on in the ground but its flowers dont have that slight pink blush, do you know which variety yours is?

Matt

G'day Matt,

I don't really know the particular pedigree of these white wisteria. I have several of them that I collected about 5 years ago and have never really tried to identify what variety they are.

My regiment is fairly simple, I don't mess with them very much. My wisteria seem to thrive on benign neglect.

I avoid re-potting and cutting the roots unless it is absolutely necessary.

I don't grow them in anything special. If I do re-pot, I mostly use what came out of the pot. If I have to add any additional soil, it's mainly left over with extra organic components added.

When the outside air temperature starts to push into the 90's (f) I will place them in a tray of water. This usually happens sometime in May here and they remain in the water trays until autumn when the temperatures drip back into a reasonable range. I will remove them from the water trays around the beginning of August for about a week and let them dry out a bit. This is the time of year that they set next years flower buds. After the week is up, it's back into the water trays.

As far as feeding goes, i usually fertilize them once a week from the time they stop flowering until late autumn when the leaves start to drop. I use what I have on hand as long as it is does not contain high levels of nitrogen. I will alternate between chemical and organic fertilizers throughout the growing season along with some humic acid. The only deviation in this plan comes in late July and early August. At that time, I give them a good dose of super triple phosphate (0-45-0) once a week during the time they are setting the flower buds.

Now pruning, that's the key. At this point in their development, I do not do any hard pruning at all. I have found that the trick to consistent flowering is how you remove the spent racemes.

Here is how I prune my wisteria:

wisteria bud 1.jpg

wisteria bud 2.jpg

wisteria bud 3.jpg

wisteria bud 4.jpg

This accomplishes two things:

1. It leaves the plant with numerous potential flower buds and
2. It satisfies the need for the plant to produce those pesky tendrils

That's about it in a nutshell.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

Really beautiful, i love it

Thanks Tnucfehc, I appreciate the compliment.

Regards,
Paul

[pjkatich]

Wah, If that tree was on my coffee table, I reckon i could just sit and stare at it for an hour and still not want to look away. It's gorgeous!

Hi Jozaeh,

I appreciate you taking the time to comment on this tree.

Thanks for the nice compliment.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

Very Nice Paul
By chance do you have a cascade one. Funny that I don't see man cascaded styles in this.

G'day Brett,

Unfortunately no, I use to have a couple purple flowering wisteria cascades. However, I sold them many years ago and have never tried another.

One of the reasons you don't see many wisteria cascades might be in the way they grow, especially with collected material. Being a vine, wisteria wants to grow vertical. It's hard to find a wisteria trunk with the proper movement to make a convincing cascade style bonsai.

Thanks for the compliment.

Regards,
Paul

[dragon]

hi paul
i must say you have inspired me to try my hand at this tree it is beautiful and the colour that
comes from it is stunning love the tree and the work you done
cheers dean

[pjkatich]

Very Nice Paul
I have a Normal purple one in a similar Style, but the trunk still has a few years till it gets to this size

Hi Ken,

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my wisteria.

Like most plant material grown as bonsai, once you put a wisteria in a pot, the trunk growth is minimal.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

My wisteria is this colour when its blooms as well. Nice to see how nice it can look at such an advanced stage. Is it the Japanese variety of wisteria by any chance?

G'day Kyushu,

I do not really know what variety of wisteria this is.

I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Paul

[pjkatich]

That is beautiful, what an inspiration. Can i have it.

Thank you Petra for the nice compliment.

It's available, but only if you come an pick it up yourself.

Cheers,
Paul

[bodhidharma]

Lovely Paul, i too love wisterias and have many. But a white one that has the quality of yours eludes me. I have one called "peaches and cream" but is has not flowered for me yet but i certainly will post it, if and when it does.

[pjkatich]

Inspiring. I have got to get me one of those.

Thanks for the positive feedback Edward.

It's nice of you to stop and comment on my wisteria.

I hope you can find yourself a good one soon.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

Lucky to grow a good one here, let alone all that flower.

Beautiful.

Tony

Hello Tony,

Is Brisbane a bad location for wisteria?

Thank you for the kind compliment.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

That is absolutely beautiful Paul! Amazing. As well as the glorious flowers such a beautiful shape and proportion. Just a stunning image of a flowering tree. I agree with Jozaeh, the mind goes blank and you just stare, its a 'reverie moment'.

Congrats,
neal.

ps - How tall would that be?

Hey Neal,

Nice to hear from you.

I appreciate your kind words very much.

This wisteria is approximately 24" (61cm) tall at this point in time.

Have you used any of your new pots yet? I look forward to seeing a few photos when you do.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

hi paul
i must say you have inspired me to try my hand at this tree it is beautiful and the colour that
comes from it is stunning love the tree and the work you done
cheers dean

Thank you for the very nice compliment Dean.

I would encourage you to try your hand at growing a few wisteria.

I saw your earlier posts, and as Ken said they are fairly easy to strike from cuttings. However, growing one from a cutting will take time. You can take the cuttings most any time during the growing season after they are done flowering. The earlier you take them the better.

In addition, they layer (either air or ground) very easily.

However, collecting one is the best way to get a good trunk.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Paul

[pjkatich]

Lovely Paul, i too love wisterias and have many. But a white one that has the quality of yours eludes me. I have one called "peaches and cream" but is has not flowered for me yet but i certainly will post it, if and when it does.

G'day bodhidarma,

"Peaches and cream" now that is about as sexy as you can get with the name of a plant.

I would love to see that one when it does flower.

I appreciate you taking the time to comment on my wisteria.

Your feedback is always appreciated.

Cheers.
Paul