My project to transform a wisteria vine into a self-supporting tree.
Several years ago the RHS magazine The Garden ran a feature on wisteria and included several photographs of wisteria trained as standards. They looked stunning - like large bonsai. I decided I had to have a go at growing one myself. I had the perfect place, I thought, for such a visual stunner: a small circular bed in the back garden. Deciding it would make an ideal present, my parents searched high and low to find a plant with a stem long enough for training as a standard. The specimen they found was a wisteria floribunda 'Alba'.
They gave it to me during the winter. I asked a local blacksmith to make me a special frame to train it through. Before planting it - just in time for the second wave of our bitterly cold winter - I gave the vine a drastic pruning. And then waited.
I watched the buds swell on my wall-trained wisteria. No sign of life in the embryonic standard. I watched the buds break on my wall-trained wisteria. The embryo lifeless. Wisteria throughout the south of England were in full glory and still the buds on my standard had not even begun to swell. I began to fear that I had killed it with my secateurs, but thought if I waited long enough to be absolutely sure, there would be no chance of finding a replacement in the garden centres before next year. So I rushed out to find a standby and, with amazing good luck, found a plant with a suitably long stem in a local garden centre. This time it was - purportedly - a wisteria floribunda 'Black Dragon' double.
Within days of the arrival of Black Dragon, Alba emerged into life. I have since realised that comparing its progress with that of a wall-trained wisteria was rather idiotic given that one is completely exposed and the other protected and warmed by its wall.
So, what to do with the Black Dragon? I had just dug up the front lawn to make a new, very large bed. Where better to put the wisteria? However, I wasn't going to go to the expense of another custom-made support. This one had to make do with a hardwood stake.
They gave it to me during the winter. I asked a local blacksmith to make me a special frame to train it through. Before planting it - just in time for the second wave of our bitterly cold winter - I gave the vine a drastic pruning. And then waited.
I watched the buds swell on my wall-trained wisteria. No sign of life in the embryonic standard. I watched the buds break on my wall-trained wisteria. The embryo lifeless. Wisteria throughout the south of England were in full glory and still the buds on my standard had not even begun to swell. I began to fear that I had killed it with my secateurs, but thought if I waited long enough to be absolutely sure, there would be no chance of finding a replacement in the garden centres before next year. So I rushed out to find a standby and, with amazing good luck, found a plant with a suitably long stem in a local garden centre. This time it was - purportedly - a wisteria floribunda 'Black Dragon' double.
Within days of the arrival of Black Dragon, Alba emerged into life. I have since realised that comparing its progress with that of a wall-trained wisteria was rather idiotic given that one is completely exposed and the other protected and warmed by its wall.
So, what to do with the Black Dragon? I had just dug up the front lawn to make a new, very large bed. Where better to put the wisteria? However, I wasn't going to go to the expense of another custom-made support. This one had to make do with a hardwood stake.
Wisteria floribunda double 'Black Dragon'
I am a little apprehensive about training the branches of the Black Dragon, given that they will be supported only by air. On the other hand, if I am successful, a glorious standard wisteria in the front garden might attract avaricious eyes and go walking. At least the Alba is safe in the back garden.
But I am getting several years ahead of myself. First I must prove that I am up to the task.
Click here for the next page
But I am getting several years ahead of myself. First I must prove that I am up to the task.
Click here for the next page