Wisteria is a lovely perennial climber that dazzles with a lush explosion of blooms in shades of purple, blue, or white each spring. They’re vigorous growers that can live for over 50 years but can quickly become a nuisance without proper care and training. It seems that they will climb anything around, so how do you train Wisteria and keep it under control?
Wisteria will climb virtually anything it can reach, including trees, houses, fences, sheds, and more. Wisteria will continue to climb as long as the structure supports its weight. The plant can be trained to grow into a shrub or tree, or you can train it to climb against any sturdy structure.
This article will explain how Wisteria grows and everything you need to know about its climbing behaviors. I’ll also discuss how to train your Wisteria to climb, as well as tell you some things you should never let your Wisteria do.
Does Wisteria Need to Climb Up a Support?
Wisteria always needs some kind of support to climb, but it can be trained to grow in several ways. Wisteria is known for covering entire surfaces, delighting us with complete walls of sweet-smelling flowers.
However, this plant is quite versatile, and it can do more than just scale tall buildings like your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. They also spread by dropping seeds, and their roots can produce offshoots, or suckers, that are a good distance from the main plant. However, Wisteria will climb anything in grabbing distance.
How Does Wisteria Climb?
Wisteria climbs by twisting its stems around any support it can find, including its own vines. Vines also have tiny rootlets that act like little sticky feet to attach to walls and other surfaces. However, the bulk of the plant’s weight must be supported using the vine’s spiral growth pattern.
When you look at the plant from above, Japanese Wisteria (Wisteria Floribunda) grows its twines in a clockwise pattern. Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria Sinensis) and American Wisteria (Wisteria Frutescens) twine in the opposite direction, in a counterclockwise pattern. This is one way to tell Japanese wisteria apart from its relatives.
What Will Wisteria Climb?
Wisteria will climb just about anything it can reach including a house, fence, pergola, trellis, balcony, arch and more. To find out how the plant grows, read this section. To better understand how to train the plant in specific ways, read the section below.
Will Wisteria Climb a House?
Wisteria will absolutely climb a house or any other nearby wall, including a garage, shed, or even a neighbor’s house. We don’t recommend planting Wisteria too close to your house, as it can quickly get out of control.
If you train Wisteria to grow on the outside of your house, you may find that the aggressive vine seems to have a mind of its own. It can grow into any small crack or crevice and can cause damage to the facade.
If you choose to grow Wisteria next to a house, you should ensure that the structure can support the total weight of a mature vine. Typically, brick or block homes are the only exteriors that should be considered for this purpose.
Will Wisteria Climb a Fence?
Wisteria will effortlessly climb all kinds of fences, whether they’re wood or chain link. If you plant Wisteria near a fence, make sure that it’s strong enough to support the heavy vine long-term, or you may need to add extra supports.
If you like the look of Wisteria on a fence, you’ll need to train the plant early and maintain it with regular pruning to keep it under control. Wisteria can cause damage to fences, and it can even tear down a privacy fence.
It’s a good idea to use a trellis or arbor for extra support, with some strong, galvanized wires for the Wisteria to climb. Any wood structure should be heavy-duty or reinforced and secured by cementing it into the ground.
Will Wisteria Climb Trees?
Wisteria will continue to climb indefinitely, limited only by the size of its support. Nearby trees are perfect for Wisteria vines to continue their ascent, and they will jump onto the tree and start climbing if it’s in reach. Wisteria’s spiral growth will twist around tree trunks and branches.
This can be devastating to the tree or shrub that takes on the Wisteria vine. This aggressive plant can quickly strangle mature trees, wrapping itself around every available limb and branch and robbing the tree of sunlight and nutrients.
Take care not to plant Wisteria near anything that you don’t want it to grow on. If you find that a vine has made its way up a mature tree, the best thing to do is cut it off at the base and let it die. The vine will grow back, and you can train it to grow in a more controlled pattern so that you won’t have to worry about it choking out the tree.
How To Train Wisteria to Climb
Most planters grow their Wisteria intending to climb a designated structure and fill in a predetermined space. You can grow Wisteria on an arbor, pergola, fence, or even a wall as long as you train it properly and continue to maintain the growth.
In any case, the most important factor is providing strong enough support for the thick, heavy vines. Otherwise, the Wisteria will overtake the structure causing damage or collapse.
Training Wisteria to Climb a Wall
Mature Wisteria vines look more like small tree trunks than thin, wispy tendrils. The reason for this is their spiral growth pattern, where new growth twists around anything it can grab, including existing vines.
To train Wisteria to climb a flat surface like a wall, you’ll need an anchored support system that gives the plant something to grab on to and that can also support its overwhelming weight. Anything that’s not strong enough will eventually collapse or be torn down by the plant.
How to Create Wall Supports for Wisteria
- Starting at least 3 feet below the eaves, screw 6-8 inch heavy-duty brackets across the center of the support, about 2 feet apart. This can be directly into the wall or into a wood frame.
- Continue with another row, 2-3 feet below. Depending on the wall’s height, create additional rows of horizontal supports.
- Run galvanized wire connecting each of the brackets. The wire should run along each horizontal row, with at least one vertical wire up the center. The wire should be run through the bracket so that it’s away from the wall as much as possible.
- Attach Wisteria vine(s) to the wire using twine or string. As the Wisteria grows, the vines will twist around the wires. Because you used brackets that were at least 6-8 inches and secured the wire away from the wall, the Wisteria will have plenty of room to twist and get plenty of air and sunshine.
Training Wisteria to Climb a Fence
Training Wisteria to grow on a fence is pretty easy because it will naturally wrap around links, slats, or posts to climb. However, if the fence isn’t strong enough, the plant can eventually overtake it, causing damage or tearing it down altogether.
Any support material should be heavy-duty and durable, such as heavy metal pipe secured in concrete or rot-resistant, pressure-treated wood. It will be very challenging to remove the Wisteria plant once it’s matured, so it’s essential to make sure you have a good, sturdy foundation that’s built to last before training your vine to climb.
If you’re training Wisteria to climb a wooden fence, you should use brackets or hooks with wires to give the vines something to twist on, similar to the above process for training it to climb a wall. If you can avoid it, you don’t want to have the vines twist around the fence slats themselves because it’s more likely to cause damage later on. Plus, leaving some space between the vine and the support structure improves airflow and prevents moisture from getting trapped in the wood. It’s better for the plant and the fence.
For a chain-link fence, it may be a better idea to use a pergola or some other adjacent structure to support the vine. Unless you’re certain that the fence is built with a heavy-duty pipe that can support the immense weight of a mature plant, it’s better not to risk the fence being torn down later on.
Training Wisteria to Climb a Pergola
Wisteria is a dramatic choice to cover a pergola or other structure. With its vigorous growth rate and picturesque hanging flowers, Wisteria can add something special to your lawn or garden without much effort.
Before you begin, you should ensure that your pergola is very sturdy and strong. Wisteria is notorious for completely overtaking and even pulling down pergolas, arbors, and other support structures over time.
For best results, use a sturdy, weather-resistant, or pressure-treated material, and secure the pergola into the ground by setting the posts in concrete. Even if it seems like overkill for a small, newly planted vine, believe me, you’ll be glad that you used extra reinforcements when your Wisteria reaches maturity. If you’re building your own pergola, it would be best to use (as a minimum) 4x4s for the posts and 2x4s for the remaining pieces.
One Wisteria plant should be able to grow to cover the entire pergola. Once you’ve planted the new vine, you can let a few of the new shoots begin to grow and twirl around one another and the pergola. When the shoots become long enough, you will need to secure them to the pergola to train them to grow in the direction you want and keep it under control.
To do this, simply screw eye hooks along the pergola’s posts, spaced about 2 feet apart. Run a wire (14-16 gauge or something close is ideal) through the eye hooks. (You can find plant training kits which include the hooks and wire on Amazon.)
Tie the vine shoots to the wire with string or twine to guide them upward, but take care not to pull the vine too tight. You’ll want to leave some slack so that the vine keeps the loose, natural appearance and has some room to continue to grow.
Once the vine reaches the top of the posts, you should prune back the tips of the shoots. This will encourage the vine to produce more offshoots to the sides, and these vines will grow across the top of the pergola. These will also become your flowering vines in the future.
Once your Wisteria has started growing across the top, you should be able to remove the training ties from the pergola. Leaving these ties and wires in place can cause the vine to get stuck behind them or become entangled, so it’s a good idea to remove them to prevent any damage as your wisteria grows.
Training Wisteria into a Tree Shape
If you don’t have a strong, solid structure to support the weight of an unruly wisteria, it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy one of these beauties in your own lawn or garden. Like I mentioned earlier, these vines are incredibly versatile and easy to grow. You can even train them to grow into a tree shape (also called a standard), which can add something truly unique and whimsical to your collection.
Training your Wisteria to grow like a tree will be easiest when the plant is still young, so get started early. You can follow these steps on a smaller scale if you’d like to train your Wisteria into a potted standard, like a bonsai tree. Follow the instructions below to train your Wisteria into a tree.
1. Choose A Location
Select an area in your yard where the Wisteria tree will get plenty of sunshine (at least 6 hours each day) and where the soil can drain properly. Take care not to plant your vine too close to other trees or structures.
2. Add Support
Once your Wisteria is planted in the ground, position a 4×4 inch wooden post about 1-3 inches away from the wisteria’s base. The post needs to be at least 1 foot taller than your desired height for the wisteria’s tree trunk. Using a rubber mallet, you will need to drive the post one foot (12 inches) into the ground; this will anchor the post to support the tree.
3. Prune the Trunk Stem
Select the most robust and hearty main stem to become the new tree’s trunk. Use a pair of pruning shears to remove all foliage and side shoots from the stem by cutting ¼” from the side shoot attached to the main stem.
4. Stake the Trunk
Hold your new tree trunk up against the post and secure it using a strip of cloth or a soft tie, tying it just tight enough to keep it standing up. Leave enough room for the stem to be able to expand and move during growth. Add additional ties every 8 inches up the post, keeping the stem secured in a straight line and adding more ties as needed.
5. Let It Grow
As the new trunk grows, continue to trim away any side shoots that develop, adding more ties to keep the stem upright and straight and adjusting any old ties that may need to be moved or loosened due to growth.
6. Create the Canopy
Once the trunk reaches the top of the post, it’s time to make the tree canopy. Cut the top from the main stem just above a growth node. This will cause side shoots to grow from the top of the stem. Let these side shoots grow out until they develop at least 6-7 leaves, then cut the tips off the lateral branches just above the leaf’s stems. This will encourage additional lateral growth and help the treetop fill out.
7. Trim and Maintain
Continue to trim off any side shoots from the trunk. In the winter, when Wisteria goes dormant, you can prune any dead branches and clean up crossing and tangled stems. Prune back side shoots to about 12 inches, and adjust any ties around the trunk.
A Word of Caution
Wherever you decide to let your Wisteria climb, do take care to ensure that it won’t creep onto neighboring property and watch it to make sure it doesn’t go where it shouldn’t. If you decide to let it grow on the walls of your home, be advised that it can cause damage.
Wisteria can crawl underneath the siding of a house, causing it to buckle and break seals to let moisture in where it shouldn’t be. It can wrap around gutters and damage or pull them down. Vines will make their way into any cracks and crevices they can find, and eventually, they will push their way through walls, facades, windows, and other thresholds. They can pop shutters off and may even climb underneath roof tiles, breaking the water-tight seal of your roof.
So, while the look of a wall covered in flowering vine may be appealing, it’s not a good idea for most homes. Once you commit to a location for your Wisteria, it will be extremely difficult (nearly impossible) to remove it once it’s matured.
You should also keep in mind that Chinese and Japanese Wisteria are invasive to the U.S. and may not even be allowed in some areas. The American Wisteria is a native version that is not as aggressive and still produces the same sorts of whimsical blooms.
Putting it All Together
When it comes to Wisteria, it’s all about location, location, location. This vigorously growing vine will not disappoint when it explodes with sweet-smelling blooms that look like bunches of billowy grapes, but it can bring a lot of heartache if it’s not planted and appropriately maintained.
- Wisteria will climb anything it can get its tendrils on – fences, walls, garages, sheds, other trees, etc.
- Wisteria will crawl into any nook and cranny, which may cause damage.
- The vine can be trained to climb where you want it to, but it will take some preparation and maintenance.
- Many varieties of Wisteria are invasive, so take care to select a species that’s good for your local ecosystem.
Wisteria and other fast-growing vines can be intimidating when you understand all the facts, but that doesn’t mean you should shy away from these beauties. As long as you commit to maintaining them and keep the growth under control each season, you’ll reap the benefits of a genuinely unique plant and dazzling display of blooms each spring.