AusBonsai

Hey Everyone,
Well I have traveled down to Melbourne this year to spend some of my Christmas with Mum & Dad. I have noticed this flowering pink wisteria in Mum's garden and she said that I could have it.

How would I go about removing this and collecting it from the garden without killing it, I do know that these flowering pink are fairly rare and would hate to see it die.

I think it would make a great literati but any advice on how to get this out without killing it would be great, I had received a wisteria of MattA in the past from a collected stump. Maybe you could shed some light on this Matt I have attached a couple of photos for peoples interest.

Merry Christmas

Archie

Gee Archie, you think I like Wisteria

Its really nice of your mum to let you have this one. I would have to see it in person but if the flowers are scented and long (ie over30cm) racemes then it is more than likely Wisteria floribunda 'Honbeni' (Pink Ice), its not a common variety which is odd given its vigour & beauty. If the racemes are shorter then it could be a sinensis variety.

They transplant really easy, seeing as its at your mums, I am sure she wont mind you leaving it in the ground till late winter next year, then you can dig & be as brutal as you like really. If you want to dig it now that will be ok, shorten this seasons growth and remove all the foliage, try to get as much root as you can. When you pot it up make sure to keep it extra moist and shaded until it is growing strongly again. This is the only photo I have of the roots on any of my collected wisteria, trunk dia approx 6cm, if I wanted i could have cut the taproot off & left just the radials as well and it would have been fine. Did you end up repotting that wisteria you got from me? It really only had those few big roots you can see & very little fibrous root. Would love to see how it is going now. I posted an update on the one I got from Eddie this morning & about to head out & start styling the big hollow trunk from Joy.

Once you have this one home & growing strong I would love a cutting, I have a few different ones & would love more. I recently planted floribunda 'Shiro Noda' (white flowers) another hard to come by variety. Will generate a few cuttings I am sure over the couple decades i want it to ground grow me & my big .... trees

I would love a 'Nishiki' (variegated foliage) but they are even harder to find, I have never seen one in australia for sale or otherwise. Only when I was briefly in Japan in the 90's, I came home fired up & eventually gave up hunting.

Matt

Are you sure it is a Wisteria? That flower reminds me of Indigofera. They are related.

Joel

Joel wrote:Are you sure it is a Wisteria? That flower reminds me of Indigofera. They are related.

Joel

Hey Joel,

That was another consideration but I couldnt remember the exact name of it. I was taking it on face value of what Archie had said of it being a wisteria. I bought one from another club member last autum that he swore was wisteria, "I have been growing it for 25yrs I should know sonny" I didnt think it was, neither did another mate at the meeting that day. No matter, it was desperately in need of an overhaul & repot, I never couldnt resist a mystery or challenge. Guess what... its Rhus or Toxicodendron vernicifluum as its now known. Reminded me that no matter how long we have had something we can still be wrong about what it is. At the end of the day I dont mind what something is as long as it works or I can see a way to make it work.

Matt

its 100% Indigofera 'Summer wisteria'. More often known as 'Chinese indigo'
Found as very little shrub/climber. Wisteria like flowers and leaves, but flowers are smaller.
This is a dense, spreading shrub and grows 2 to 3 feet tall.It is very adaptable, does well on limestone soils, recovers well from freeze damage. A good ground cover for hard to plant areas.

Cheers nishiki...

do you have any idea how to collect them?

they dig pretty easy anytime from late autumn to early spring steve

Hey Everyone thanks for the input, I will get out there today and take a few more pictures of the racemes so we can get a 100% id on this little sucker. My mum reckoned it wasnt a wisteria and dad reckoned it was.
Anyway I am still sure it will make an awesome for my collection though.

Matt I have repotted the generously gifted Wisteria and it has gone nuts, when I get home I will get some photos for you so you can see this little bugger. I have just trimmed it up as the length of growth was up to 7 feet long something from outta this world anyway its growing very strongly now to compact the root system and try to get some flowering for next season.

Merry Christmas

archie1979 wrote:Hey Everyone thanks for the input, I will get out there today and take a few more pictures of the racemes so we can get a 100% id on this little sucker. My mum reckoned it wasnt a wisteria and dad reckoned it was.
Anyway I am still sure it will make an awesome for my collection though.

Matt I have repotted the generously gifted Wisteria and it has gone nuts, when I get home I will get some photos for you so you can see this little bugger. I have just trimmed it up as the length of growth was up to 7 feet long something from outta this world anyway its growing very strongly now to compact the root system and try to get some flowering for next season.

Merry Christmas

Yep thats Wisteria... grow for miles and then some, look forward to seeing the pics.

Matt