Wisteria Newbie - Tell me about it!!!!

I know NOTHING about wisteria, except it's gorgeous, and I know I shouldn't plant it too close to the house. I am planning to plant it quite away.

I really want some wisteria to grow. I have this "reddish" one at a nursery, I think it was this one: http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/44215/, at this page: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/59543/index.html

DG says it's an evergreen. Do the others drop their leaves? Is that the difference?

Can it grow from seeds? I will look for it on the seed exchange.

The wisteria you're talking about that's gorgeous but don't plant too close to the house is most likely genus Wisteria, which is a completely different plant than the evergreen wisteria you've liked to here. Millettia is not nearly as aggressive as Wisteria, as well as it's evergreen and Wisteria is not. I also think the flower display isn't quite as spectacular, although it is very beautiful. So if you like Millettia go ahead and plant it, I just wanted to make sure you weren't really looking for real wisteria because this isn't the same thing. As far as growing from seeds, I've never seen seeds of Millettia available, doesn't mean they don't exist but they may be a bit hard to find, it's not as common a plant as Wisteria. You can grow real Wisteria from seeds also, but they can take many, many years to bloom from seed so it's better to get cutting grown ones.

OK, thanks. I want the real stuff so forget the Millettia.

If the "real" Wisteria is not evergreen, does that mean it loses all its leaves in winter? I'm in zone 8b.

I want the real wow, pop, attract the hummingbirds wisteria. Which do you recommend????? And can I start from seeds? And do you have a picture?

starting from seed takes from 7-20 years to bloom.

yes they loose their leaves in the winter. even my millatia loses it leaves during the winter if it gets cold enough.

there are several varities of actual wisteria as you see below. so you have to choose which one you want and is for your zone.


http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=wisteria&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

scroll down the page and you will see the differences and colors too. i am still looking at the white ones.

You might post in the TX forum and ask about specific varieties that people have had good luck with, I know some part of TX have a tough climate because of the summer heat, so some varieties might do better with that than others. I would get a cutting grown one from a nursery (or get a cutting from someone here or a friend), seed grown ones can take forever to bloom as imzadi said so you'll have flowers much more quickly from a cuttting grown one. Plus you'll know what to expect from the flowers--it would be horrible to wait 10 years for a seed grown one to bloom, only to find out that the bloom wasn't what you expected.

OK, I definitely want to live to see my Wisteria bloom, so forget the seed stuff! I will post in TX forum, thanks all for the advice! I'm dying to get one.

One last question.........I'm not going to plant it on a very pretty looking arbor, so I think I would like to mix it with another plant which have leaves that will fill in where the wisteria doesn't. Will that work? Has anyone done that before?

Wisteria grows very vigorously, so it will most likely choke out anything you try to plant with it. You could try, but my guess is once the wisteria gets going it won't want much company. I would also make sure your arbor is sturdy, not one of the wimpy little ones! The vines can be quite heavy.

But the trunks are quite naked right? I have always seen wisteria on beautiful arbors, but I'm building one out of rebar, and it would look best if whatever I planted covered up the humble frame.

Ok its a Plant

???

I guess if you could have a vine that would only go up the sides of the arbor and not want to get too much bigger than that it might work, I thought you were looking for something that was going to grow all the way where the wisteria was and have leaves when the wisteria didn't. It's definitely worth trying at least, you're right about the wisteria trunks, they're much more impressive when you just look at the top of the arbor with the blossoms draping over it!

Yes, I thought so. And it seems to plant something with the wisteria would take away from its beauty so it's off to plan "b".

Thanks all!!!!!!!!!!!!!