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Re: Which wisteria?

Elizabeth Morgan wrote:
> 
>    We have had a bulldozer in, and removed an 80-year-old cypress hedge. It  was beyond us to keep it trimmed because it spread so vigorously and > threatened to engulf everything. 
>    I felt like a murderer.  But now we have all this space and sunlight. >    In part of the space we have built an arbour, 3 metres wide and 39 > metres long, which I would like to cover with wisteria.
>    Is there much difference between Wisteria florabunda and W. sinensis? > How many of either type would it take to cover an arbour of this size?
> Does one have a much longer blooming season than the other?  Which one has
> flowers which are bluer (rather than more mauve)?  These are the questions
> which I think are most important to me in choosing which wisteria to plant,

Hi Elizabeth 
My authority (Climbing Plants, Christine and John Nicholls -A Godwit NZ
Gardening Guide). Says W florabunda will grow to 10 metres and W
sinensis to 20 metres, which will give you something to work from when
furnishing your trellis. I have never started one off from scratch, but
have the impression they grow very vigorously and probably would not
take many years to reach full size. Florabunda has the largest
inflorescences, but sinsnsis has the best scent.

There are a number of hybrids of  Sinensis, one, W x "Caroline" is
described as highly scented and as flowering on very young plants. W x
"Royal Purple" has very rich-coloured flowers, but not much scent. Two
outstanding varieties of W florabunda are "longissima alba" (The best
white) and "Macrobotys" of which the racemes on mature plants can be up
to 1.5 metres long! I think it would be worth trying to find a
specialist nursery and seeing what they have to offer.

I notice an English correspondent saying that they take years to reach
flowering. My NZ book does not mention this as a problem and I doubt it
would take very long for you either. Australasia generally seems to have
much more favourable growing conditions than Britain.

The formation of flower spurs is encouraged by pruning side shoots to
three leaves in late summer. Any subsequent growth should also be pruned
to three buds during winter. If you do not keep the side shoots cut, you
will end up with an awful tangle, which could get too heavy for the
support and you will not get many flowers.

Some plants I have seen, regularly produce lots of shoots around the
base of the stem each year and  usually these are best cut off as soon
as they are spotted developing. However, they can easily be layered if
you want any extra plants.

Moira

Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand (Lat. 41.15'S Long. 174.58'E)
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