Front border.

Pretty border Bb:-)

Looking good, BB :o)

Lovely, and right outside your window.

You have made such beautiful surroundings to your home. You should be very proud.

Thank you - and my bargain basement wisteria has a lot of blooms on it this year..lavender and rosemary too

Thanks Toto all planted up last year so this the first time we re seeing it like this.

Ah! Did I hear the word "bargain".

Aye Toto - have a bit of a thing re - wisterias garden centres sell them when a mass of leaf giving the impression they will be a mass of flowers.

As grafted not all will flower and quite easy to buy a dud that will never flower as graft hasn t taken properly.

Now is the time to buy as flower buds appear before leaf.This little chap was stuck in a small pot tucked away but had 2 of the fattest flower buds on ..so rather buy him for £5 than a giant for £25 with loads of leaves ..

That's a good tip BB because I would like to try a Wisteria to grow across my very ugly garage - and Bargain - even better.

I imagine your cottage looks lovely BB and all those new surprises must be great. Thanks for your advice above on Wisteria. Any chance of a close up shot of the buds pre-leaf. Mine is just bursting into life but not sure if all are leaves or whether I have some buds :-)

Your welcome Ginellie please look for those furry cones they are the flower buds - if you cant see them and only a pile of leaf then steer well clear.This wisteria was only two little twigs but each had a flower bud so they do not have to wait years to flower .. load of rubbish ! If you d like a bargain I ll get you one and make sure it has flowers it wont be big but it will flower !

I ve heard it said that you can wait 10 years for them to flower think this a ruse to unsuspecting buyers ... garden centres try to ship them out in the height of summer when flowering finished and they are not cheap.

Of course Dawn sorry for the rant but it such a con I ve stopped people with huge leafy wisterias wheeling them to the till and said can you see a flower .. erm no but surely it will do I ve probably single handedly cost these places hundreds of pounds lol

Good for you Bonkers. I hate to be ripped off by these sharks.

Hi BB
just bought a mini wisteria on ebay~not received yet~ and notice that he says he will accept no returns~most of his stuff that I have had from him is excellent but will be a bit anxious about this one until It does flower!

Just grates when people genuinely seek advice and really first thing should be told is dont buy in height of summer . Not an expert and many here with much broader gardening knowledge but having bought one years ago I tried everything to get it to flower..wasnt pruning it right wasnt feeding it right etc etc

Eventually read an article by Alan Titchmarsh explaining that some will never flower as a dud graft.Some may have been grown from seed and these will take years to flower grafting was introduced to speed the flowering process and most garden centres sell grafted stock so should flower much earlier..look for a fat union joint similar to those on roses just below the branch stems.

Sorry Arlene didnt mean to worry you - if you have had previous good service then stick with it , you are buying at the right time and unless very small hope there could be some evidence of buds about to pop.They dont all flower in the first year but being told to wait 10 years is a myth oh dear perhaps should ve made a blog choosing and pruning wisteria ! lol

As you can tell I love them - some stunning new varieties being added all the time just hate to see people spend a lot on them assuming they have a fantasic healthy plant because it has a lot of leaves on !

very pretty

:( ... since my first visit to goy I'm collecting info about wisterias...
worrying worrying about it...

we're walking to winter now, and I have read carefully every info and suggestions...

the next spring season is the dead line for my wisteria, if it doesnt bloom... I'll move it to the clinic garden and give it some peace ...

Lovely cottage you lucky thing!

I love all the rock and brick..Makes it look soooo nice!

Wish I could be of more help Aleyna but your growing conditions very different to ours. Do you have a winter like we would know it or is it so mild your wisteria keeps growing through it ? Does it lose its leaves ?

Hard to imagine a Brazilian winter sounds like a contradiction in terms lol my mental picture is of wall to wall sunshine year round !

Thanks Mageth - had been somewhat neglected which sounds almost criminal that someone cant appreciate what they have ..

Aye Newfie built long before anyone envisaged cars and trucks so many placed right beside what was then small dirt tracks ..we have an old path that runs at the back from the church to the pub so no - one could witness the congregation heading there after the service lol

How cool is that? lol..

Thanks so much Ray for taking the photo of the wisteria, brilliant stuff. I cant remember what time of year we bought our wisteria. Ours is on a south facing wall and seems happy enough but we'll see. You hear of so many people that have dud wisterias dont you, so annoying. I have a grafted flowering cherry tree and it has never been much good. What makes it worse is that we bought it following my Dad's death in April 1996, as he died at Easter we hoped the tree would be in blossom each year at this time but it just has the odd flower. :( I wish I bumped into you at garden centres, lol.

this is very pretty BB .
We have a wisteria growing over our front porch our son bought us two , one for each side .. one of them died , the other one didn,t flower for what seemed like years , then we found out that we were being to gentle with the pruning , you have to be tough on them and take each piece back to about 6 inches twice a year , since we have been doing that it is covered in blooms, , I will put a photo on when the time comes !

That's encouraging Amy :)
Are the mistletoe shoots still OK?

Yes Dawn ..it,s almost the first thing I do when I go into the garden to check and make sure it,s still there and see that nothing has eaten it .. LOL ..

Brilliant news Amy. We're going to put some bands around our apple trees that are hosting the mistletoe berries to protect them - I think the booklet said that .... We also have the branches netted where they are to protect them from the birds. I'm everso pleased for you Amy.

Your welcome Dawn difficult to get flower and leaf in same shot as most leaf at top .. once fully grown they are stopped by the hard pruning Amy describes this then ensures that mature specimens drip with flowers long before any leaves develop .

Yes Amy correct pruning essential and hope to acheive one main stem from which everything else branches off .Glad to hear about the mistletoe would love to try it - but would mistle thrushes find them too tempting ?

Winter goes to temperatures close to -5°C (23F), no snow, and the "lady" wisteria only loose leaves if the wind is too warm or the weather is too hot, as she gets the afternoon sun ... it dry the leaves and loose it ...
Now I became a wisteria seeker... lol, there is one by a houses front fence, so I'm observing the plant and the branches are covered with old and young leaves... just like mine (the one I cut as suggested... have long long branches now...)
thats gonna be funny... the wisteria report... thank you all for the help

BB: I hope that in 20 years time the Mistle Thrushes will be here to enjoy my berries, I guesstimate that's how long it will be before or if I get any berries.

I wondered if that was happening Aleyna - ours die right back in winter so guess those branches with old leaves should be cut back around September ready to flower around February your time if I have your season scales right ?

He he Dawn they really take that long ? I was concerned the thrush would peck out the seeds but think its the berries they like as real fruit lovers aren t they.

Well we only put the seeds on the apple trees this winter and Amy's are just shooting after 3 years. We've put nets over the branches so the birds can't get the seeds, so we'll see.

Good luck , Amy must be so thrilled to see these signs.Have seen you can purchase mistletoe plants but what a price - if you ve got the patience then you re saving a fortune ..

Didnt know you could get plants Ray. I bought some fresh berries with a full instruction booklet for about a fiver (I think), thanks to Amy :)

beautiful cottage garden border BB

Thankyou Deida...........

Great looking garden border your created Bonkers, hard to believe it's only been there a year.
I just love a bargain too, don't find nearly enough of them. BTW, thanks Bonkers, you just remined me where I can get my next bargain. Wisteria is in full bloom over here and I found a place where it is growing wild along the road. It's only going to cost me my time and energy digging it up....lol.

Wild wisteria ? Sounds lovely - it would quickly vanish here though if it grew wild ! This strip faces the road and was so narrow had been left to fill with weeds its probably no more than 2 feet wide but rather look at these than giant weeds ..been busy in back garden sowing a lot of seeds that someone kindly sent , thank you !

I believe it's Chinese wisteria, that's gotten out of hand. Must have been growig on someone's old homeplace. The farm house is gone but the wisteria lives on, and on, and on, you get the picture........lol . Hope you have great success with the seeds !

Very pretty....

Thanks Flc..will post pics !
Thanks Janette x

lovely colour combination bb.

love the wall and border. so pretty.

Thanks Alandrapal...just a mass of weeds two years ago when first moved in !