What to Know Before Planting Wisteria

What’s With Wisteria

What to know before planting Wisteria in your outdoor space.

Wisteria is an amazing plant to add to your outdoor space. After some time a wisteria will grow along an arbour or fence line creating a beautiful canopy or extra privacy. But, be aware of the type of Wisteria your plant and what it can do to your native growth.

When purchasing a young Wisteria stick to the local more common plant simply named American Wisteria (Wisteria Frutescens). This is a native plant to the warmer climates of the southern states and adapted to Western Canada. The difference between American and Japanese is the growth rate. Japanese are aggressive growers, and if not planted with pre-planning can leave a destructive path.

One of our team members building an arbour for Wisteria.

So, how do we achieve that beautiful Wisteria canopy look? Train the plant to grow…  yes these plants are smarter than we give them credit for. When your Wisteria starts to mature and grab ahold of your pergola, arbour or structure, keep an eye on the new stems growing under the “canopy”. This will control the amount of new streams to incorporate with already existing growth. 

If your Wisteria has already taken hold and has developed a canopy, you will need to start training the top branches on where to go. Take a look at the branches along the top and prune back the wisteria to encourage horizontal growth, not verticals. One thing to keep in mind is wisteria flowers are produced on branches from the previous year.

Wisteria can be a great addition to your outdoor space but can cause some headaches if you let it grow wild. With some simple maintenance and pruning these plants can give you that “ canopy look” offering some great privacy while watching those wild flowers bloom!