Wisteria in Plainfield, Illinois

We bought a ( Chineese? ) wisteria at the garden center, and after a year or two of trying to decide.... about how and where to build a sturdy enough structure and a permanent place.. Well! we discovered that it had grown THROUGH the plastic pot and THAT is where it has stayed.. the main root anyway. My friend has a gorgeous wisteria hanging over a portion of her Patio- the vine is supported by full fledged construction of an " open sort of roof" of sturdy significant beams, and I am sure they clip it often.

My wisteria, now that I have seen it in action for many years- ( 25?) has pulled over the 5' sturdy garden stakes that hold a wire fence in place. When I wanted to reposition those stakes I could not get them out. Now a days I will cut it back viciously, as I am quite sure that some of it will grow back. With the size and health of mine I could cut it anytime, but we usually Do have a second bloom, In CT so best to really cut immediately after the spring blooms and then again after the late summer bloom. It is an interesting spicy fragrance in the spring.

It can be 'trained' .. so we did try to wrap it around itself somewhat to try to shape it into more of it's own sort of tree. (didn't really work) but those tentacles can be positioned to go where you want... and they are long.. and flexible... perhaps 10'/ 15' long from the main stem. They actually would probably make a good base for a DIY wreath. We "trained" some tentacles inbetween the holes of the wire, and that length , about 15' of fence - it has those limits when I cut it back. It grows Above the 3-4' height of the wire fence to about 6' tall and stretches up and over onto a close by apple tree until cut back.

Around here the utility company can give you a hard time about deliberately planting something and using the telephone pole as it's support. But you'll want to consider how sturdy a telephone pole is - and how tall - as you budget for the long term placement of the plant. I wish we had built a sort of a free standing carport or a large outdoor patio with open beams that could support the wisteria. And , there are other vines you might consider, - such as Honeysuckle maybe even sweet pea - if your wisteria is slow to get going, or while you are waiting or if it just dies for some reason.

It does root where it touches the ground- very similar to english ivy when trying to pull it up/ pull it out. Not too hard to release from the ground, if no more than one year's growth.