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Writer's pictureFiona Lydon

Tackling an overgrown wisteria sinensis


Wisterias can be exceptionally beautiful but they can also be huge overgrown twisted monsters.


When they aren't properly pruned, the light isn't allowed to get to the flower buds and so you get masses of foliage at the expense of gorgeous, scented flowers. You also get a tangle of woody stems in the winter.


The picture here is of one that I have tended for a few years. You can see the shape you are looking for, which is a small number of really large, architectural, chunky stems which have lots of flowering stalks (called laterals) coming off them. What you don't want is lots of thin whippy stems. The shape of the wisteria in winter when it has no leaves can be fabulous......or not so fabulous if it's a tangled mess.


There's lots of information online about how to prune a wisteria but having done several this winter I thought it worth noting how I tackle them for their winter prune (in January or February usually). I commonly see them in urban settings next to a front door and then up over the ground floor windows.


Firstly check the base, which will most likely be a couple of thick stems and lots of smaller upright ones which are no doubt behind the drainpipe and twisted around each other. Check for dead wood and shorten flowering stalks down to 3-4 buds. The flower buds are dark brown points coming off a lateral stem.


Work upwards, pruning away all the flowering stalks down to 3-4 buds over the whole plant. Make sure you've removed as much of the dead wood as you can see. Then you can see what you are working with. At this point have a cup of tea and a 5 minute peruse of your plant!


Next, cut away any branches which are coming out a long way from the wall. You want your plant to be neatly positioned against the house. Then have a look at the main stems - usually next to the door. Is it very congested, with lots of stems all crowding one another? Cut out at least a third of those stems - checking to see which are the 'best' of the bunch where they're flowering above your head. Also look for twisted stems. I tend to find that these will eventually end up with one of the stems being choked out by the other.


Check for any over-tight ties or trellises which will also kill off stems as they thicken.


And then in this way, work back up the plant, with the aim of choosing one, two or three main stems in each area, and shortening laterals back to these. This way you will end up with more flowers and also a better architectural shape when the plant has no leaves. It's easy to forget, but it's out of leaf for at least 5 months!


Oh and lastly, watch for birds nests! Blue tits love to nest in wisterias and a well crafted nest is as beautiful as any wisteria! Happy pruning!!

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