Isn't this pretty?

http://davesgarden.com/t/376745/

It finally all opened up this morning.

Yes Glory.........I just love it!!! Esp. the tree form. It really means spring to me.

Beautiful! Does it smell good? I have one, it is alive, but don't know if I will live long enough to see it bloom, as it is only 3 years old. Think they have to be 7 yrs. or so?

Sorry, fingers typing faster than my brain is going.

This message was edited Thursday, Mar 27th 3:04 PM

Nice picture,Glory.I have a white and a blue one in my yard,still not flowering.
Hibiscus: You can graft a flowertwig from an elder plant,doing so you will have early flowers.

Cutting back all long twigs in July also will force early blooming. Only keep 5 sleeping eyes on each twig.

Ludger,
I give mine a good hair cut in mid summer to if nothing else but keeping it in check. Here in the Southern US Whistera grows almost as bad as Kudzu.

Thanks Glory & Ludger, will try trimming in July, since I have no other older plant, will just have to wait for this one to grow up.

Smile, I really would like what is Kudzu..didnt find this word.

Ludger, I'll get out and make a picture on my way to Florida. It's a vine that you can sit and watch grow (really!) It has taken hold here in Ga and it's a horrible thing here. And you can never get rid of it in our climate.
http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/houses.html

Thank you Bonnie, this plant I have seen in GA. Hmm, I remember an other name: Revenge of..........
May be today you name it Kudzu, same plant.

Thank you again.

we all have some very choice names for it:) can't write them though LOL!!!

OK, same here for some weeds...:)

Won't Roundup or anything like that control it? Acckkk.......Egads!

no, nothing yet. I wish our wisteria grew like Kudzu! I love wisteria and Glory's picture is fabulous!

I want to know how to get it to bloom!

I just chopped one of mine down cause I gave it 8 years to bloom and it didn't do it.Its now a 6 foot tall stubb.....

Kudzu originally was planted here for soil erosion , but it backfired. Even cattle won't eat it. Don't have much here in South Mississippi, but boy I have sure seen it everywhere else.
My wisteria is holding up a pine tree in my back yard, and has never, ever bloomed. It is nearly as big around as the pine tree. Does provide shade in the summer though.
Glory, Love you wisteria.

I think the Kudzu is beautiful...like a green blanket! Is it hardy?...I'd love to try and get some for here!

Bruno

Hardy? did you look at the pictures? yes? then look at these
http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/sculptures.html
It's not beautiful, it's taking over. We've lost valuable land to it. I would think that after what it's done to the southeast US, there are probably laws about exporting and importing it, I'm not sure.

I have to agree with tiG...Kudzu is some mean stuff. I bet that is one plant the US government wished they would have left in Asia.

CC,
Wisteria does take a very long time to bloom from seed but this one was started from a very small plant and has been blooming for 6 or 7 years now and it's only been here for 8 years. Think maybe it likes our warm weather?

maybe thats it,but I bought mine as a cutting,it was 3 foot when I planted it,then it took over my chimney, roof, skylights.......

I tried pruning it........then I went ballistic......

No, No Bruno, No Kudzu! It will literally cover your home; cover your front door, you will be a hostage in your own home from kudzu. My daughter was visiting Natchez, Miss. which is further north from where I live, and really had never seen kudzu growing except on highways, and she came back so excited; she thought she finally found a plant she could grow!

Oh my gosh, I hope you had a heart to heart talk with her. It does look great but just imagining what the vine does in the end is enough to boggle the mind. Is any company trying to find something that will exterminate this horrible creature?

Aww..that's a pity! I suppose it's like the problem we have with Japanese KnotWeed here! It's taken over whole cemetarys, Roadsides, gardens and farmlands!

Are they the same thing Bruno. I'd sure hate to get either of them started. I have enough trouble in my jungle here.

Hi Brugie...no they're different but nearly as bad as each other! Here's some photos: http://www.cabi.org/bioscience/japanese_knotweed_alliance.htm

All the best,

Bruno

Bruno,
Knotweed must be a cousin of Kudzu. LOL

Glory, it is pretty. the fence at the corner has wisteria, planted 12-14 years ago, i'm talking a 250-300 hundred feet of blooming wisteria. it's nice to have things like that close so i don't have to grow it, can't grow everything.

Hi Arlene,
Feeling better?

Hi, Glory. i am much better mentally. the back isn't, but will be soon i hope.

Gosh, that stuff is horrible. I hope someone doesn't decide to bring it over here. At least it does sound like it can be controlled with herbicides, tho expensive. Thanks for the site. Still have lots to read there.

i once read that if you root prune wisteria with a flat shovel, it will force it to bloom. the plant thinks its going to die, and so it tries to reproduce itself by blooming. but on the other hand, you could probably find a site that tells you that peguins are from the amazon, and that the arctic ocean is infested with nile crocadiles?

LOL

I had heard kinda the same thing but never tried it.The said to beat it up with a chain.It thinks its gunna die so it forces blooms and seeds to reproduce.....I thought cutting it back so hard may acomplish the same thing.
Chuck want's to hook a chain on it and yank it out......
Guess that would scare it!LOL

I listened to Jerry Baker, prune roots with a shovel, pour gallon of epson salts/water on root, will bloom next year, didn't happen!

I could be wrong here..........but didn't I read years ago that it can years to bloom.......which is why you want to buy a grafted one so you can see it before you die?

I have a wisteria that is holding up a pine tree, the trunk is probably 12 inches across; never bloomed and it is more than 8 years old. I have not only shovel pruned, I have chopped it with an ax, but it still just grows and grows and grows........

I just did a search on wisteria and I was right....... a wisteria can take up to 15 years to bloom.........you should buy a grafted variety in at least a 5 gallon can and get blooms fast! They also need to be in enough sun, low nitrogen fertilizer, and pruned at the right time and pruned correctly.

Check out this ultimate wisteria standard!

I don't think I can chop my wisteria down and be rid of it cause it seems to throw off new sprouts. What a monster plant. The woods are full of beautiful wisteria, growing wild and blooming everywhere. It looks like a mass of purple. Kell, the next time I buy a wisteria, it will be blooming in the pot!

Glory
beautiful picture, I have some started but could be awhile on it for bloom here in OH.
Glad to see you back home and well.
Laurrie

Kell, that is one big trunk on that wisteria. Mine is a little bigger than my little finger. Do you think I have a while to wait? LOL!!