Wisteria: how to grow and train wisteria, plus 20 of the best varieties

By Abigail Whyte

Published: Tuesday, 26 April 2022 at 12:00 am

Wisterias are climbing plants par excellence. No matter how it is trained, a wisteria in full flower, with hundreds if not thousands of racemes, cannot fail to excite the beholder.

Although the most common wisteria are blue-mauve there are also white, pink or purple forms, and while there are some forms of Wisteria floribunda that have only a slight scent, most are highly perfumed adding immensely to their desirability as a garden plant.

Wisteria climb by twining. Some species, such as Wisteria floribunda, twine in a clockwise direction, while others, such as Wisteria sinensis in an anti-clockwise direction. All have a compound pinnate leaf and the flowers, or more correctly inflorescences, are racemes, which vary in length and contain between 20 and 170 individual flowers, depending on species and cultivar. By far the most commonly seen species in the UK is the Chinese wisteria, Wisteria sinensis, which was introduced to cultivation in 1816 and rapidly became popular. The original plant introduced was named Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’, and it is still one of the best blue cultivars available, with a gorgeous scent.

IN BRIEF

What Five species and two hybrid groups of vigorous, woody climbers with twining stems.

Origins Most are found in Japan, but wisteria are also native to China and the USA. The three most commonly grown species in the UK are Wisteria floribunda (Japanese wisteria), Wisteria sinensis (Chinese wisteria) and Wisteria brachybotrys (silky wisteria).

Season Most flower April to June, but some can flower as late as July.

Size Wisteria are strong-growing plants that can reach up to 20m, although their eventual size will largely be determined by the allotted space. Wisterias can be kept to a height of 2m if grown on a post.

Conditions In the wild, wisteria are found in woodland areas with their roots in shade and leaves in the tree canopy in full sun. Although happiest in moist, well-drained soils, wisteria will grow in most soils.

Other cultivars worth looking out for are the white-flowered W. sinensis ‘Jako’, which has longer racemes and a very powerful scent, especially at dusk when its presence is quite ghostly, and the violet-mauve W. sinensis ‘Amethyst’, one of the most highly scented cultivars.

Whichever wisteria you choose, these vigorous climbers in full flower are a glorious sight to behold and provided you ensure they are grown in the right conditions – and are properly trained and pruned – your success in growing one is virtually guaranteed.

How to grow wisteria

How to train wisteria

Although wisteria is often seen trained along wires on a house or a wall, it can also be extremely effective grown up pergola supports or archways – especially in the case of wisterias with long racemes that are best admired without branches or foliage getting in the way – or as a standard wisteria tree up a post. But no matter how you train your wisteria, the importance of initial training can’t be stressed strongly enough:

Wisteria are long-lived and will form thick woody stems that will require a sturdy main support. However, only one shoot should be trained up and along this main support.
If you’re growing against a wall, use strong metal wires (3mm galvanised steel) set at least 45cm apart.
Check growth throughout the growing season, and again in autumn when the growing season has ended. Where shoots have turned round the wires or posts they should be untwined and tied back to the wire using thin plastic tubing material.
If two or more main shoots turn round each other, stronger shoots will eventually strangle the weakest, and if shoots are not untwined from the wires it will mean the wire will be part of the main stem when the shoot thickens.
You can also grow wisteria up a tree, which is a much simpler process. Plant the wisteria some distance from the tree, near the outside branches, and tie jute fillis twine from the plant to the branch. Once the shoot has reached the branches it will then soon make its way into the tree and the fillis twine will rot away.

How to prune wisteria

Many people find the idea of pruning wisteria daunting but it’s not as tricky as it might seem. Pruning is essential for wisteria, not only to keep the plant’s growth in check but also to improve the chance of flower buds forming.

Received wisdom is that wisteria should be pruned twice a year, once in summer (July or August) and again in winter (January/February). However, plenty of side shoots will arise from the main shoot and try to climb throughout the growing season, and if you keep cutting back these shoots during the growing season, with the aim – over a period of time – to build up a spur framework (similar to an apple tree), you will encourage these spurs to bear flowers. I know of a garden in Belgium where this task is carried out several times during the summer growth period.

The amount of pruning that needs to be done in winter is considerably reduced. As plants age, you can thin out some of the spur branches, again much like an apple tree. Always remove any shoots at the base of the plant, in fact I would remove all shoots below 60cm from ground level, otherwise sucker growth from a grafted plant could take over.

Don’t miss our in-depth guide to pruning climbing plants.