wisteria tree-when will it bloom?

I ordered a wisteria tree and planted it four years ago. It was a small twig and has grown now to about 4 feet high and about 3 feet across. I looks more like a bush. It hasn't bloomed yet. I am hoping it will bloom next year? Can I expect blooms soon? thanks.

Wisteria is a vine, it can be trained to some extent into a treelike shape but it'll never really be a tree (it grows aggressively, so in order to keep it in a nice shape like that you're going to have to prune it a lot, and pruning too late in the year will cut off next year's flower buds).

As far as time to bloom, it depends a lot on whether it was grown from seed or from a cutting. Seed grown ones I've heard can take up to 10 years to bloom. Cutting grown ones should bloom within a few years, so unless you pruned it recently you've got a good chance for next year, although there are never any guarantees. I would also doublecheck that you've got it in the right location--they need a fair amount of sun in order to bloom, so if you've got it in a slightly shady spot that could be the problem too.

I never pruned it yet. It is right in the sun. I ordered it from a catalog-(Interstate Nursery-i think,)which said it was a tree, but you are right--I don't think it will ever be a real tree. It is looking pretty healthly- I'll keep my fingers crossed that it blooms next year/ thanks much !!

This message was edited Oct 22, 2007 4:55 PM

You might try calling them and asking whether they grew it from seed or from cuttings. Most places would grow them from cuttings, but you never know.

That's the problem with "common names". Checked our their website and as suspected they do not give the correct latin (genus and species) for what they are advertising as 'Wisteria Tree'. http://www.interstatenurseries.com/detail.asp?nav=tre&pid=4827 If you search PF for Wisteria Tree, all you'll find is African Wisteria Tree (Bolusanthus speciosus) which obviously would not be hardy for you (Zone 10a) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/65328/. If you search for just 'Wisteria' you'll find this http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/search.php?q=wisteria. Unfortunately most Wisteria take forever to produce flowers (sometimes as much as 7 years!). If you're looking for a Wisteria that blooms at an early age, try American Wisteria (W. frutescens 'Amethyst Falls') - although PF lists it as hardy to Zone 7, it is actually much hardier than that (Zone 5).

My Wisteria is like a climbing octopus. It's 10 years old and has never bloomed. It just grows and grows. It's tenicles reach over and climb onto my Japanese Lilac tree. It's like pulling on an endless rope when I try to get it out of my tree. I want my DH to take his saw and cut it down. It's so big and heavy that it's bending the arbor it's growing on. There's a few birds nests in it too. I'll give it one more season to bloom and then it's saw time.

Wisteria that are grown from cuttings rather than started from seed will bloom quicker than 7 years. It's the seed grown ones that take 7-10 years (or maybe more sometimes) to bloom.

pastime--is yours getting enough sun? If it's growing up in trees it may not be getting enough sun for it to bloom, they need to be in full sun.

It's in full sun on the south side. The Lilac tree is north of the vine and doesn't shade it. If that monster ever bloomed it would be gorgeous. I will leave it alone so this year's growth will hopefully have next years flowers. After that I give up.

rcn48- Your link on Interstate shows exactly what I ordered ! Although mine doesn't look like that picture --I still like it in the yard and will keep hoping for it's blooms.

pastime--I really hope you don't saw it! Being that big--It will be so beautiful when it blooms and you will be so glad that you waited--It will be worth the wait.

I hope so. The old growth is as thick as a tree trunk, winding it's way in and out of the lattice work on the arbor.

I just planted Wisteria. It had a bloom on the plant when I bought it. The tag says Purple Wisteria Vine,Wisteria sinensis,Enredadera Wistaria Morada. It has trippled in size since August . Do you think it will bloom next year as long as it had a bloom when I bought it? I built a strong trellis and screwed it onto the fencing. Some south sun will come through the fence but it mostly gets east morning and early afternoon sun. Somewhere I read not to put it in full sunlight because it's so aggressive. Maybe I should move it to a South sun location? Now I'm worried it will never bloom.

Earlier this year I found some White Wisteria growing wild, standing like small trees. It borders along the parking lot of the local Tractor Supply Store and I am going to ask if I can dig some up to try transplanting.
I am so ignorant about the nature of Wisteria, I didn't even know what it was. The fragrance ,however, was so powerful in the parking lot it led me to the plant and I stole the blooms and had the most wonderful fragrance throughout the house for days. I identified the blooms in a plant book and since then I bought the Purple Wisteria. It was expensive, almost $20.

Do they transplant?

It may or may not bloom next year--some plants need a little time for their roots to get settled in their new home before they'll bloom. Some plants will bloom fine the following year, and others will take a year off and not do much. Since I haven't planted wisteria recently I don't know which one's more likely for you.

A trellis screwed to a fence doesn't really sound like the best place for a wisteria--they are very big strong aggressive vines, and I'm afraid it'll end up bringing the fence down someday! Unless it's a 15 foot tall fence, it's going to get too big for the fence. And your neighbors are going to hate you when its runners start popping up all over the place in their yard and your vine starts flopping all over their side of the fence, so if I were you I'd put it somewhere that it isn't going to invade someone else's yard. The best place for a wisteria is on a nice sturdy pergola or something like that where it can support the weight and there's enough space for it to grow and spread out. Otherwise if you're trying to keep it in a smaller space, then you'll be pruning it constantly and you'll end up losing some of your blooms that way (not to mention all the extra work!) If you like wisteria but want something a little more controllable and better behaved, W. frutescens (American wisteria) is very beautiful. It's still a big heavy vine, but it doesn't grow rampantly and spread everywhere like your Chinese wisteria will.

As far as sun--they won't bloom well if they don't get enough sun. Without trying it there for a few years to see what happens it's hard to say for sure whether you have enough sun or not. I'd say if you've got a good 6 hrs of sun there it should be OK, otherwise you might want to move it. If you're going to move it, it would be way easier to do it now rather than in a couple years. (and I don't think having more sun significantly affects how aggressive it is--if you have it in really deep shade that might slow it down, but being in part shade it'll still be aggressive but you won't get flowers.)

It's a Stockade fence and double-posted with the posts bolted together. There is plenty of space for this vine to grow and after thinking over what you posted, I 'm going to risk leaving it there. If I see the fence will not support the vine in a few years, I'll build a pergoda right there,out from the fencing. I asked the neighbor if she minded it growing over on her side and she said she didn't mind at all. All the Chocolate Mint I planted along the fence creeped over on her side too.It does get about 7 to 8 hrs. sunlight east to west with south sun coming through the fence so I hope it will bloom there.

Thanks for your good advice,Lucille