If you plan to set out more than one wisteria vine, place them at least 10 feet apart.Dig a hole the same depth as the plant’s root ball and three times as wide as that ball near the base of a post or other vertical support.After watering your wisteria plant well, remove it from its container.How do you plant wisteria?īe sure to plant your wisteria vine where there is no chance of it escaping into the wild, since it can be highly invasive. The planting site should receive at least 6 hours of sunlight per day, preferably more, and include a support of some sort, such as an arbor, pergola roof, or horizontal wires on which the wisteria can spread out about 10 feet up from its base. Where can wisteria grow?Ĭhoose a location where the soil is slightly acidic, well draining, and only moderately fertile-too much nitrogen can encourage vigorous foliage growth at the expense of flowers. Be careful to select an area with the proper wisteria growing conditions, as the plant doesn’t like to be moved once it is established. Set a wisteria plant out while it still is dormant in the spring or after it has gone dormant in the fall, keeping in mind that spring planting of perennials usually is safest in northern zones. Make sure it is a grafted plant or one grown from a cutting, since seedlings can take 5 to 20 years to bloom. If at all possible, purchase a plant that already has bloomed, thus proving it is mature enough to do so. RELATED: 13 Plants You Never Knew Were Weeds Silky Wisteria ( Wisteria brachybotrys): Another Japanese variety, this white wisteria is easier to control than floribunda, growing to about 20 feet in USDA zones 5 to 9, with silky leaves and fragrant flowers in 4- to 6-inch racemes that appear in early summer and perhaps again in autumn.native wisteria grows to 25 feet with flower clusters up to 12 inches long in USDA Zones 3 to 9, with some cultivars-such as ‘Blue Moon’-offering repeat bloom. Kentucky Wisteria ( Wisteria macrostachya): The hardiest type, this U.S.Japanese Wisteria ( Wisteria floribunda): This Oriental variety may climb to at least 60 feet in USDA Zones 4 to 9, with fragrant purple, white, rose, or red flowers in 18-inch clusters.This variety offers violet or white flower clusters close to a foot long on vines which can scramble to 100 feet if unchecked. Chinese Wisteria ( Wisteria sinensis): Formerly the most commonly grown purple wisteria in USDA Zones 5 to 8, it is now considered too invasive.Cultivars such as ‘Amethyst Falls’ produce flower clusters up to 5 inches long. American Wisteria ( Wisteria frutescens): This native variety grows up to 30 feet long, and it’s a larval plant host to skipper butterflies in USDA Zones 5 to 9.Vines of Japanese cultivars twine clockwise around supports, while most other types of wisteria grow counterclockwise. On Chinese cultivars, all of the blooms in a raceme open at once, while on most other varieties they open gradually, beginning with a wisteria flower at the top of the cluster. The flowers of Chinese wisteria appear in mid-to-late spring before the vine leafs out, while Japanese and native American types wait to perform until foliage also emerges in late spring to early summer. Their scent has been compared to that of grape bubblegum. Wisteria colors are most commonly shades of purple, but they also may be white, pink, or red. In spring or early summer, they produce pinnate leaves and grape-like clusters of sweet-pea-like flowers. Climbing wisteria vines can grow from 20 to 100 feet long-or as far as they are allowed to spread-and survive for 50 years or more.

American wisteria vine