why is my wisteria growing around the base

Hi Everyone,

Another wisteria question: the other of my two wisterias, 3 years old and about 5 ft tall has not gotten any leaves on the main trunk at all. I am trying to train it into a "tree" instead of a climber. Well, last year it looked ok, no blooms but plenty of leaves, but this year, it has no leaves at all. It literally looks like a long dead stick. However, coming up from the ground around the trunk are little green stems with tiny leaves, about 4 stems, approximately 1-3 inches tall now.

This happened to a butterfly bush we tried to grow, where green stems grew up from the ground all around the main base of the bush two years ago, and last year the whole bush was completely dead.

I'm ready to yank it out of the ground and buy another, but I thought I'd ask here, since it's the second time something I've planted started out looking great, until this shooting up around the plant happened while the main trunks were dead.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Sherry

I've had perfectly healthy wisterias send up sprouts from the base and also runners that traveled halfway across the garden, so that behavior isn't necessarily abnormal. But the fact that the top part looks dead is not normal, but we'll need some more info to figure out what happened. First off what zone are you in? Wisteria is hardy to zone 5a, but if you're on the cold end of that I suppose it could be cold damage, but there are probably a ton of other possibilities as well.

(by the way--in your zone dying back to the ground in the winter and sending up sprouts from the base is normal behavior for butterfly bushes, that's what they do in cold climates. They are root hardy, but the top growth can't take the cold so it dies back every year. But I'm not sure why it didn't come back for you last year, maybe that Easter freeze got it?)

Sherry it's normal. These plants need LOT of maintenance. I had to prune mine once - twice a week.

Hmm, I don't know my zone number but I am in York, PA. We had a mild winter, this year. It's May 26th and I am still watching the little shoots grow that sprouted from the ground all around the base. The base (one long dead looking stick) still looks dead to me.

My other wisteria, 3 years old as well, has many leaves, with 3 foot span in the middle that is just bare bark. Some leaves are curling up, and although I do not see any bugs, I sorta wonder about the curled up leaves. I had that major aphid problem last year for which I sprayed, and then came along all those bees and wasps chewing the leaves.

I'm about to say heck with it since I am such a neophyte....LOL, I am wondering how many folks in my neighborhood have wisteria and really don't care much, and here I am just itching for a scentful bloomer....darn...Murphy's law?
Sherry

Here's how to find your zone...
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/