Re: Wisterias that won't bloom....

Christie,

I seem to recall that Sunset Western Garden recommends root pruning for Wisteria's which are reluctant bloomers, and that this may be a trigger to force blooming the following year, if done in the late summer or early fall.  I can't speak from personal experience as to whether it works to force blooming, but it certainly doesn't hurt the plant to do so, as they are so incredibly vigorous.  I don't think that age or weather has been the culprit as suggested by other respondents, as this past winter was so mild in the Bay Area, and certainly not enough cold to damage a wisteria.  I do know that seedling or nongrafted wisterias take a long time to bloom, but that is probably not the case for your nursery customers who bought the plants in bloom.  You might ask if they are growing the vines in enough sun, as deep shade would probably tend to suppress blooming also.

We have some wisteria which are yet to be planted out around the palace here in Riyadh, and even though they are already 25 feet tall in the nursery, they show no signs of blooming, and did not go into complete dormancy either.  I haven't seen any other wisteria here in Riyadh, so I don't know whether they will bloom here or not.  Clematis hybrids such as Nelly Moser have done incredibly well here, much to my surprise, as they seem to want to bloom all year round in this desert climate.  The Prunus blieriana trees, on the other hand, did not go into dormancy nor did they bloom much, and look to be poor choices for this subtropical desert climate.  Lest you think I chose these plants for this job, let me defend myself, they were chosen by another firm who thought this project was identical to Las Vegas, which is similar but much colder in the winter and not as hot in the summer.  It has been fun experiencing things like Bauhinia purpurea in full bl! oo! ! m at the moment, and Tecoma stans which never stopped blooming, I wish I could get them to grow as well back in the San Francisco bay area, but it's obvious to me now that they really prefer more heat.  Hope you're enjoying the spring back home, and say hi to all the folks at Cal Hort for me.  I had thought I'd be home in June, but it looks like I've persuaded myself to stay here for another month or so, and just hope it doesn't shoot up to 110 until the end of April or mid May, but you never know around here.

Take care, David

Ccopuntia@aol.com wrote:

Hello fellow Medits --

I work in a nursery in northern CA (30 miles inland from San Francisco) and
over the past couple of weeks I have had at least 5 customers come in
complaining about how, once again, they are getting NO blooms on their
wisteria (most had no blooms last year either, although all say the plants
were in bloom when they bought them). So I was wondering what the experience
of those in the group might be -- similar problems with wisteria? Is age a
factor? Feeding? Any tips would be most appreciated!

C. Carter, CA Z9


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