wisteria

Hi Anthony ..as purchased last year assume its still a relatively young plant.

Hopefully you have one main stem with new growth branching off this .It is usual to prune back those long wispy stems to about 12" ( 30cms )in late summer .

These are then pruned further back in february to about 4" ( 10cms ) just above buds that you should be able to see forming.

This effectively stops leaf growth and gets the plant to concentrate on forming flower buds ..which develop April / May .Leaf growth will commence shortly after or even at same time in young plants.

Old established wisteria drip with flowers first before any leaf growth and this is what you aim to acheive by correct pruning.

Flower buds look like small furry cones as they develop March onwards.

Would suggest you leave pruning till february and prune the wispy growth back as detailed.

Have a pic on my photos page 4 row 2 pic 5 showing leaf and flower developing ..this wisteria only 2 yeas old.

Bonkersbon is right in detail but I would suggest that whatever you have your plant trained against, to perhaps let it first build up a permanent frame of stems for a season or two more, then start pruning to promote flowers otherwise you will end up with a small plant that flowers or no flowers at all as it tries to grow bigger!

I must say Bb that if you have a small plant flowering though, well done you!

Thanks Fractal - sorry didnt explain properly agree of course that you need to develop some height I ve just been leaving main stem and pruning all side shoots in the hope this would thicken trunk.

Very lucky find as had fat flower buds developing amongst lots of leafy giants without any ..looking sad and neglected but only £5 and thought well if trying to flower despite that would be worth a try ...

Thanks Ray, I've just cashed in on your info :-)

Definitely a real find then Bb. :-)

Now and again where I work, we get the odd smaller plant that flowers early too. I should get one shouldn't I? :-)

.....where to put it though.....

I'm sure you can squeeze one in Fractal. I wish I had found one like Ray's. I bought mine when not in flower and it didnt flower last year so fingers crossed for 2010.

Thanks Dawn , bit of a bug bear with me as garden centres sell them in height of summer with lots of leaf on .

They look impressive healthy plants but lots of leaf no guarantee of lots of flowers .

Some grown from seed which rarely flower and quite possible to buy dud wisterias which never flower.This the reason they are grafted onto stock of other trees.

An old wives tale persists that it can take up to 10 years for a wisteria to flower ..think this little one I have refutes that .

The time to buy a wisteria is early spring before leaf shows but flower buds should be showing .If no sign of this then avoid .

Leave the main stem Dawn and prune the side branches hard they need to be shocked into flowering.

If still no joy ..let me know I ll find you one .

Thanks for this Ray. Let's hope I havent got a dud. It has quite a good stem on it now and we've taken the side shoots off to take it up between 2 windows, so looks like we've done something right. I'll keep a close eye on it in the Spring and let you know how it looks :-)