This one was planted in a pot, and is climbing up the side of our deck to the top of our pergola. Haven't seen any flowers on it yet, as we didn't move in to the house until mid-summer. There is an apple tree hovering over this plant, so it is in mostly shade.
Wisteria maybe? Can you get a closer look at the leaves?
Yip definitely Wisteria, it is a very lovely climbing vine, however, depending on the type of Wisteria, it will need kept in bounds unless you have a good solid frame/trellis for it to climb up and over, a lot of people are worried about these plants as they read some horror stories about them, but the main trouble is caused by the owners not understanding the pruning regime for them, even that ain't difficult to do,
Lack of flowers May/June time, is either plant too immature, OR plant not fed and pruned and, lack of sun, but once away and going strong, they will flower in some shade, some folks in UK where I live, grow them up and through trees, maybe that's why an apple tree is so close by it. to prune properly, July, cut back this seasons growth back on each stem to 5 0r 6 buds then in Feb you will cut back ALL growth to within 2 to 3 buds back to the Base of each shoot of the previous year's growth (that's this years branches get cut back next Feb) this allows all the energy and food to be sent to the new buds forming, so they can have the energy to produce flowers, they are hungry feeders and benefit from a good dose of animal manure (well rotted) forked into the root area, or fish/blood/bone mix you get from the garden center already mixed and use at the recommended rate per square foot, they like plenty water in the growing season and have the most wonderful long racemes/flowers and are a sight to behold, they flower in May/June before the foliage shows. There are different types of these climbers and without the flowers, difficult to tell which one you have but there are Chinese, Japanese and American which the later is a cross between the Floribunda and the Sinensis.
I see from the picture, you have yours growing beside a good strong wooden frame, so you will require to give the plant support by either adding a wire frame around the wood or tying the branches to the wooden frame as these plants dont self cling at all, they need tying onto the frame each year as they grow up or over the framework, if you want the plant to put on extra height for the first few years till it reaches the size area you wish it to cover, dont prune the plant every July, let it add size to the branches, then prune early spring as directed till it gets to the required height, then do the 2 per year prune, hope you enjoy your Wisteria and get many, many flowering seasons from it, they are very long lived climbers that just need taming as they grow, even if it does get too big, get up a ladder and prune will cut it back to size for you, but for flowers, you need to give the right pruning and feeding regime or you will end up all foliage and no flowers. good luck, hope this has helped, WeeNel.
Thank you both, this was WONDERFUL information! I am getting a bunch of manure to transplant some plants (one being a peony I really want to keep alive), so I will share the weath with this wisteria. What a great forum, thanks again for all the knowledge-sharing!
