speaking of wisteria . . .

I grew up in the San Juaquin Valley in CA and I remember beautiful, HUGE wisteria vines growing over the tops of old barns out in the hinterlands beyond suburbia. I now live in the San Juan Islands in Washington state and we built a barn, planted two wisteria just below one eave of the shed roof on one side and built a wooden trellis that goes up and over to the roof of the barn to encourage growth there. Unfortunately, we put a silver colored metal roof on the barn! After ten years the wisteria still won't go near the roof and I imagined it's because the reflected heat is too much. We won't be replacing the roof anytime soon, so I am wondering if anyone has some creative ideas about how to remedy this situation? In twenty-thirty years I'd love to see the whole thing covered, but I think we made a fatal mistake at the outset.

I don't know if it's the reflected heat or the fact that it can't climb & twine around anything on a metal roof. It tends to grow around things that it can get its little tendrils around. So if you really want it over the roof (which I'm not convinced you really do if you think you might ever need to replace the roof!) you might try putting netting or trellis or something over top of the metal roof, that'll give it something to attach to. It's not like ivy that can stick to anything.

I think I would put the trellis going across the front of the barn. I think it would have a much better chance of growing across the front than the top. good luck

oops, I sort of forgot about this thread ...

well, the front of the barn has a door at the top, so that's out of the question.

ecrane, you're right about maybe it's not such a great idea . . .

come to think of it, the barns I saw it growing over were all old and almost falling down . . . oh well. . .

And especially if it was one of the Asian wisterias, I expect the vine probably contributed to the barns falling over...they're very big heavy aggressive vines, you need a really solid structure for them to grow on.

paint the roof a flat white. with good quality paint that will adhere to metal. it will reflect heat and not heat up as much. any southerner knows a white car roof is the only kind to have.

attach something that can sit up four inches above the roof crest, like a 2x4 on edge. string wire or small cable up and over, give it something to twine around, and the 4" rise should lift if off the metal for a little more heat protection.

we have wild wisteria that climb 80' tall trees. it's considered invasive here, but who cares? the scent and look is divine.

I love this idea..... I have a big potted wisteria that HAS to get in the ground..... and it would look wonderful covering (and helping to cool) the rabbit barn.