Growing a wisteria in your garden can be one of the most impressive plants to welcome you home. In summer, wisteria has jaw-dropping, pendulous (raceme) lilac flowers that hang like purple pendants.
These climbing giants can add a green, vertical layer of gardening to your home. Whether around a door to soften an entrance, grown as a standard in a container garden, or providing a draped walkway of purple flowers in summer, there really is a wisteria for gardens of all sizes.
Quick Answer
Prune wisteria twice yearly for maximum flowering:
Summer (late July to early August): Cut new green shoots back to 5 to 6 leaves from the main framework.
Winter (January to February): Cut summer-pruned shoots back to 2 to 3 buds from the main stem.
This two-stage system encourages flower bud formation whilst controlling vigorous growth. Miss either pruning and you will sacrifice next year’s spectacular display.
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Wisteria is a deciduous (drops its leaves in winter) woody climbing plant native to China, Japan and the USA. They are fast-growing plants with amazing displays of lilac and purple flowers in summer.
There are ten species of wisteria. The three most commonly grown in gardens are:
Wisteria floribunda (Japanese wisteria) twines clockwise and produces the longest racemes of all three species, sometimes reaching over a metre in length on established plants. This makes it spectacular when grown on a pergola or arch, where the flowers can hang freely. It bears flowers and leaves at the same time, so the display, while extraordinary, is slightly less dramatic than sinensis.
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese wisteria) is the one I see most often on houses across the UK, and for good reason. It twines anticlockwise and flowers before the leaves emerge, which means you get that incredible bare-stemmed explosion of lilac with nothing to obscure it. The variety ‘Prolific’ is the most reliable performer for UK gardens in my experience, and the scent on a warm May morning is quite extraordinary.
Wisteria brachybotrys (silky wisteria) has shorter racemes than the other two but is arguably the most intensely fragrant of the three. The white form, ‘Shiro-kapitan’, is one of the finest plants I have ever specified on a design project. If fragrance is your priority, brachybotrys is the choice.
💡 Top Tip
When buying a wisteria, always choose a grafted plant rather than one grown from seed or an unnamed cutting. Grafted plants are identifiable by a slight bulge or kink near the base of the main stem where the graft union sits. A grafted plant will flower in five to seven years. A seed-grown specimen can take fifteen to twenty years, and there is no guarantee of flower quality. This single decision at the point of purchase will save you years of frustration.
The wisteria is part of the pea family (Fabaceae) and has compound leaves. Compound leaves are individual leaflets on a stalk that help you spot both wisteria and other pea family plants. You will even recognise the wisteria flowers as very similar to sweet peas.
Wisterias have huge symbolism around the world, particularly in Japan. Given the fact they live so long, around 100 years, wisteria are often seen as a symbol of everlasting wisdom. Wisteria also symbolises longevity and endurance, given that they are as tough as old boots.
Pruning wisteria is essential to ensure a healthy plant and year-after-year flowering. Without pruning, your wisteria will grow rapidly, putting out lots of leafy green growth in all directions. They can also send out runners from the base of the plant in their search to colonise the garden.
These runners can divert precious energy from flowering, so they need to be managed.
Wisterias in the wild send out runners and put on lots of foliage to ensure the best chance of survival. Whilst your wisteria will still flower, doing this may take 12 to 25 years.
By pruning your wisteria, you are helping to shape it to the structure or property on which you are growing it. Pruning helps divert energy from one part of the plant to another. With wisteria pruning, we aim to restrict the green, leafy whip growth and redirect energy back to the flowering spurs.
You need to prune wisteria twice a year. Once in summer, after it has flowered (late July), and then again in winter (February).
Getting the planting right at the start is the single biggest factor in how quickly your wisteria establishes and begins to flower. I have seen gardeners wait a decade for flowers that never came, simply because the plant was planted in the wrong spot or against the wrong surface. A bit of thought here saves years of disappointment later.
Choose a south or west-facing wall, pergola or sturdy structure. Wisteria needs at least six hours of direct sun daily to flower reliably. A north-facing wall is almost always a mistake. I have specified wisteria on countless design projects, and the ones that disappoint are almost always those on shaded east- or north-facing walls, planted by previous owners who fell in love with the idea rather than considering the aspect.
Autumn is the best time to plant wisteria, when the soil is still warm from summer but the plant is heading into dormancy. Container-grown specimens can go in at any time of year as long as you water them consistently through their first summer. Bare-root plants, which are far less common, should go in between November and March.
Dig a hole at least twice the width of the root ball and to the same depth. Wisteria does not need an especially rich soil to perform well, and in fact, over-enriched ground encourages leafy growth at the expense of flowers. Work some peat-free compost into the base to improve drainage rather than fertility, particularly on clay soils. Plant the wisteria at the same depth it was growing in its pot. Do not plant it deeper in the hope that it establishes faster. The graft union, that slight bulge near the base, should sit just above soil level.
Backfill firmly and water thoroughly. Apply a 5-8cm mulch of bark or compost around the base, keeping it clear of the main stem, to retain moisture throughout the first growing season. In its first year, regular watering during dry spells is essential. Once established, wisteria is remarkably drought-tolerant and needs very little intervention beyond the twice-yearly pruning.
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This is the section most beginner gardeners skip, and it is the one that causes the most expensive problems later. Wisteria is a remarkably powerful plant. In the fifteen years I have been designing gardens professionally, I have seen wisteria lift roof tiles, buckle guttering, force open window frames, and reduce a decorative trellis to splinters. It needs proper support from day one.
Against a wall, the correct approach is horizontal wires fixed with vine eyes. Use 3mm galvanised steel wire, tensioned between vine eyes spaced approximately 30cm apart vertically. The vine eyes hold the wire away from the wall, allowing air to circulate behind the plant and preventing moisture damage to the wall. Fix them into the mortar joints rather than through bricks where possible. This system is what the RHS recommends and what I specify for every house-wall wisteria design I produce.
On a pergola or arch, the timber or metal needs to be substantial. I would not put wisteria on any timber structure with posts thinner than 10cm square. A wisteria in full maturity is extraordinarily heavy when covered in wet foliage, and a poorly built pergola will not survive more than a few seasons. If the structure feels at all wobbly before planting, it will be a problem within five years.
⚠️ Warning
Never train wisteria directly onto a lightweight wooden trellis fixed flat against a wall, or over guttering and into roof eaves. Wisteria stems thicken significantly with age and will exert enormous force on any structure they wrap around. I have personally had to redesign gardens where wisteria had detached sections of guttering, damaged masonry, and pulled supporting wires through brick. Plan for the plant’s eventual size and power, not just its current size.
When training the main stem, tie it loosely to a cane or directly to the wire using soft garden twine or adjustable ties. Check and loosen all ties once a year because stems thicken quickly and a forgotten tie will girdle the stem within a couple of seasons.
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The most common mistake with wisteria is treating a young plant like an established one. In the first few years, the priority is not pruning for flowers but building the framework that will carry flowers for the next fifty years. Get this stage right, and the plant will reward you for a lifetime. Rush it, and you will spend years trying to correct a chaotic jumble of stems.
Year one: Let the main leader grow as freely as it wants. Tie it vertically to your support wires or a cane as it extends. Remove any side shoots that emerge in the first few months, keeping the energy focused entirely on the leader extending upwards. Water consistently through the first summer.
Year two: Once the leader has reached the desired height, remove the growing tip in February. This encourages the development of strong side shoots from the main stem. Select the strongest two or three side shoots and tie them in horizontally to your support wires, spaced evenly. These will become your permanent framework branches. Remove all other shoots from the main stem.
Year three and beyond: Begin the twice-yearly pruning routine properly. In summer, cut the side shoots growing from your framework branches back to 5 or 6 leaves. In the following February, shorten those same sideshoots to two or three buds. Each year, this system builds up short flowering spurs along the framework, and it is from these spurs that the racemes of flowers will eventually emerge.
💡 Top Tip
Do not be in a hurry to start the twice-yearly pruning regime on a very young wisteria. If the plant has not yet covered its allotted wall or structure, let the framework branches extend freely and tie them in as they grow. Only once the framework is in place does it make sense to start building up the flowering spur system. A few extra years of patience at this stage pays dividends for decades.
Winter is the prime time to prune wisteria, ready for flowers in summer. It is this process that enables you to focus the plant’s energy on creating flowering spurs rather than sending out all of its energy into green, whippy wisteria growth.
It is this long growth that zaps the energy from wisterias, taking it away from flowering and into taking over whatever structure they are planted next to.
In winter, we cut back wisteria to 3 buds.
So let us look at the beginner steps to prune a wisteria easily.
When pruning wisteria in winter, you will be met with lignified and woody branches and stems. It is important that you use a pair of sharp, clean secateurs that are capable of cutting sometimes pencil-sized stems from the wisteria. I use Felco 2 secateurs, which are fantastic as they last a lifetime and all the parts can be replaced if damaged or worn out.
Do not be tempted to use scissors or a knife. The cleaner the wisteria cut, the better the climber will heal, which helps flowering over the recovery of the wisteria.
If you have to use brute force to get the secateurs or snips to cut, you need bigger secateurs. Do not force them, as you will damage your secateurs, wrists and your wisteria. Make sure you keep your secateurs sharp too, which will make the job far easier!
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Locate the side shoots of your wisteria. These are shoots that come off from the main thick stems of your wisteria. You then want to count 3 buds from the base of that stem.
You can spot buds as little red or dark purple lumps that have broken through the woody shoots. You can feel them with your fingers as little bulges. These are the buds that are going to grow into both foliage and potential wisteria flowers this year.
Now that you have identified the wisteria buds, it is time to count. You want to make a cut just above the 3rd bud. This is counting from where the lateral joins the stem and counting outwards. Do not count from the very end backwards as some online guides show you.
When making any pruning cut above a bud or lateral you want to make the cut on a diagonal 3mm above the bud. See below for examples of a poor and a good pruning cut.
The first bad example has left too much stem above the cut. This will die back, leaving a black brittle stump, which is not good for plant health. The second image shows how much spare stem you should leave. This will heal nicely and provide a clean, healthy pruning cut.
Take your time cutting back all laterals to 3 buds across the wisteria. If you come across laterals that are in the way or are growing out too much, cut them right back to their parent stem to stop them from growing.
You can also remove any runners that spring up from the very base. You can recognise these as they are bright green, long and flexible. These will zap the energy from the rest of the plant so best to remove them.
Once you have finished pruning your wisteria back to 3 buds and removing any runners or vigorous shoots from the base, you are left with several woody prunings. Do not just bin them, though. They make excellent kindling for log burners or can be chopped up and added as a carbon layer for your compost bin. You could even use them in bug hotels, too, for solitary bees and other insects to make a home with them.
Summer pruning of wisteria follows the same guidelines but takes back the growth to 6 buds, not 3. This is because we want to prevent excessive green, whippy growth after flowering. If we do not prune, the wisteria will put all its efforts into foliage again and may get out of hand.
Summer pruning involves cutting back wisteria to 6 buds after flowering, usually late July or August in the UK. This helps keep the wisteria neat and tidy. If we do not do this, it can mean a lot of tying in over the winter, only to prune these longer stems back out again.
So use the pruning guide above in summer to cut back to 6 wisteria buds in summer. Then in winter, around February, we shorten the wisteria further by pruning to 3 buds.
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I hear from so many followers that their wisterias never flower. With proper pruning, all established wisterias that are in the right place should flower. Here are the eight most common reasons and how to fix them.
The Problem: Wisterias grown from seed can take 15 to 20 years to flower. Grafted plants flower in 5 to 7 years.
The Solution: Patience. If your wisteria is under 7 years old and healthy, keep pruning correctly and wait. Check if it is grafted (look for a bulge near the base). Grafted plants flower much sooner.
The Problem: The single biggest cause of non-flowering wisterias. Without the twice-yearly pruning regime, energy goes into leafy growth instead of flower buds.
The Solution: Start the winter (3 bud) and summer (6 bud) pruning routine immediately. It can take 2 years of correct pruning before you see flowering results, but it will work.
The Problem: High nitrogen feeds encourage lush green growth at the expense of flowers. Lawn feed runoff near wisterias causes this frequently.
The Solution: Stop feeding entirely for one year. Wisterias rarely need feeding. If you must feed, use a low-nitrogen, high-potassium fertiliser such as tomato feed in spring only.
The Problem: Wisterias need full sun (south or west-facing) for at least 6 hours daily. North-facing or heavily shaded wisterias produce leaves but few or no flowers.
The Solution: If moving is not possible, prune surrounding trees and shrubs to increase light. Consider moving young wisterias. Mature specimens in the wrong positions may never flower reliably.
The Problem: Wisteria flower buds form in winter but are vulnerable to late frosts in April and May. One hard frost can destroy the entire season’s flower buds.
The Solution: Protect wisterias with horticultural fleece when frost is forecast in April and May. Choose later-flowering varieties like Wisteria brachybotrys if you are in a frost-prone area.
The Problem: Wisterias hate waterlogged roots. Constantly wet soil prevents proper root development and flowering.
The Solution: Improve drainage by forking in horticultural grit, raising the planting area, or installing drainage. Consider moving the plant if the soil is persistently boggy.
The Problem: Wisteria floribunda (Japanese) is less hardy than sinensis (Chinese). In cold northern gardens, floribunda may not flower reliably.
The Solution: Check which species you have. In cold areas, Wisteria sinensis or brachybotrys are more reliable choices.
The Problem: Large trees or vigorous shrubs nearby compete for water and nutrients, stressing the wisteria and preventing flowering.
The Solution: Create a 1-metre clear zone around the wisteria base. Mulch heavily to retain moisture and suppress competition. Consider removing or relocating competing plants.
The Problem: This is the cause I see most often overlooked, even by experienced gardeners. Wisteria flower buds do not form in spring. They form in late summer, between July and September, on the short spurs produced by the twice-yearly pruning routine. If the soil around the plant becomes too dry during this critical window, those developing buds abort before they are even visible to the naked eye. The plant looks perfectly healthy through autumn and winter, the pruning is done correctly in February, and then May arrives with barely a flower. Dry soil in summer is the invisible culprit.
The Solution: Water established wisteria consistently through July, August and September, particularly during dry spells. This surprises many gardeners because wisteria has a reputation for drought tolerance once established, and in most respects that reputation is deserved. But the bud formation window is genuinely vulnerable to moisture stress in a way the rest of the growing season is not.
A deep soaking once a week during a dry summer is enough. On sandy or very free-draining soils, apply a thick bark mulch over the root zone in early July to retain moisture through the critical weeks. If your wisteria is correctly pruned, gets full sun, is not being over-fed, and still refuses to flower, summer drought is the most likely remaining explanation.
💡 Top Tip
Mark July to September in your garden calendar as “wisteria watering season” even if the rest of the garden is managing without supplementary watering. This three-month window is when next year’s flowers are being created invisibly inside those pruning spurs, and consistent moisture is the single most underrated factor in reliable annual flowering on an otherwise well-managed plant.
Wisterias are not plants that like to be rushed.
They can take up to 7 years once planted before they flower. This is because they only flower once they have established a suitable root system and have enough structure above ground to then think about reproducing via flowers.
Do not forget, any plant that produces flowers is therefore aiming to reproduce using some form of seed from that flower.
Although wisterias can take 7 years to flower, they really are worth the wait. Especially given the rustic charm of their woody twisted branch network and lilac summer racemes of hanging flowers.
Established wisterias flower in May to June here in the UK.
If we have long, cold winters, the flowering window can shift back by a week or two, meaning wisterias may still have some flowers in July. The same applies to mild, clement winters, except for earlier flowers. All successful wisteria flowering windows are predicated on the correct pruning techniques, so if you have not pruned, do not be surprised if your wisteria ignores you and sends out minimal flowers.
A mature adult wisteria can reach around 10m (33ft) in tree form or spread up to 20m (66ft) against a wall, pergola or archway. They require regular pruning and trimming each year to promote summer flowering and control their scrambling growth.
Whilst you can grow wisteria in a container, they will need regular feed and eventually outgrow their pot. If you have a small garden or need a wisteria in a limited space, choose a standard wisteria.
This is a wisteria that has been grown and pruned to have one main stem. When growing wisteria as a standard, its ultimate growth can be reduced due to the limited branch network.
Wisteria likes bright sunny south-facing positions in the garden.
Whilst wisteria will grow in partial shade, this is likely to mean a loss of flowers each summer. They will survive in pretty much all soil types, but do not like waterlogged or boggy soil conditions.
If you have heavy clay soil, it may be best to help open up the soil structure by working some peat-free compost into the soil and applying a heavy mulch once the wisteria is planted.
Wisterias can tolerate exposure, but windburn may make the leaves unsightly and cause the flowers to drop prematurely on very windy sites. Usually, you will see them grown up walls and pergolas in warmer positions where the wall or structure can help retain heat during the summer months.
You may be asking why we do not just skip straight to the winter prune in summer after the wisteria has flowered. The reason we do not prune wisteria straight back to 3 buds in summer is threefold:
Yes, you can hard prune a wisteria! Wisteria responds really well to a hard prune, and an established plant will often bounce back with vigorous regrowth the following year.
Care must be taken, though, as a serious hard prune to within a foot or so of the ground will come at the cost of reduced flowers. Hard pruning wisteria will set back the flowering potential of your climber by at least 1 year. So it is worthwhile considering whether you really need to hard prune your wisteria or whether a mere renovation prune will suffice.
I only hard-prune back damaged wisterias, such as specimens that have been damaged by the wind or have broken free from their structures and snapped or torn their limbs.
My video below shows the principles of hard pruning to demonstrate the technique. Clean, sharp loppers or a pruning saw are essential.
I take back the plant by 50% for old wisterias that look out of control. Still using the same 3 and 6 rule as shown above. I find this preferable to going back to the ground.
Wisterias are often grown up and over pergolas, which can confuse beginner gardeners when pruning. It is often daunting knowing where to start. My advice for pruning wisterias over pergolas follows the same advice as above, but with a few additional pointers.
Once your wisteria has finished flowering, cutting off the flowers can help keep it neat and tidy. It also helps reserve energy for the plant to recover after the effort required to flower. Some gardeners believe it can help encourage further flowering. However, in my experience, the buds for flowering develop in early spring, so removing spent flowers will not cause a second flush. However, it is good for garden hygiene to remove them to prevent seed setting and waste of energy.
In my experience, wisterias rarely need any plant feed. They are vigorous climbers that take several years to become established, but when they do, they will grow and flower profusely.
Feeding wisterias should only be done if:
For most wisterias, I would always prefer a yearly mulch of decent-quality peat-free compost or a very dilute liquid feed using homemade comfrey tea. Feed your wisteria in spring and never in summer. Feeding in summer just causes lots of leafy growth that you then have to prune out. Feeding in spring gives the wisteria the energy it needs to flower, but as I said, I would not bother unless you have an old or recently hard-pruned wisteria.
⚠️ Toxicity Warning
Yes, wisteria is toxic. The seeds and seed pods are the most dangerous parts, but all parts of the plant contain toxic compounds called wisterin and lectin. Ingestion can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and in larger quantities can be more serious. This is particularly important to be aware of if you have young children or pets who spend time in the garden.
This does not mean you should avoid growing wisteria. It is one of the most spectacular flowering climbers available and a well-sited plant will give you decades of pleasure. But it does mean being sensible about where you grow it. If you have very young children who put things in their mouths, or a dog that tends to chew plant material, position your wisteria somewhere it cannot be easily reached, or wait until the children are a little older before planting it.
The distinctive pendulous seed pods that form after flowering are interesting and can particularly tempt children. If this is a concern, remove the spent flowers promptly after they fade to reduce the number of pods that develop. The flowers themselves are considered low-toxicity and are used in some culinary traditions in Japan, but I would not recommend eating any part of the plant. Contact your vet immediately if a pet has consumed any part of the plant.
Wisteria is generally a hardy and low-maintenance plant, but it can be susceptible to a few pests and diseases. This can throw off the beginner gardener if you are not aware of them. For most growers, your wisteria will be fine, but for the odd few, here are some problems you may run into along with some suggestions for solutions.
Aphids are small insects that feed on the sap of wisteria plants, often congregating on new growth and flower buds. They can cause distorted growth and may excrete honeydew, which can lead to the growth of sooty mould. Control aphids by spraying affected plants with a strong stream of water to dislodge them, using insecticidal soap or neem oil, or introducing natural predators like ladybirds.
Scale insects are small, oval-shaped pests that attach themselves to wisteria stems and leaves, sucking sap from the plant. They may appear as small bumps or shells on the plant surface. To control scale insects, prune away heavily infested areas, scrub scales off with a soft brush or cloth dipped in soapy water, or use horticultural oil sprays.
Japanese beetles are metallic green beetles that feed on wisteria foliage, skeletonising leaves and causing significant damage. Handpick beetles from plants in the early morning when they are sluggish and drop them into a bucket of soapy water. You can also use beetle traps placed away from wisteria plants to attract and capture them.
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that appears as a white, powdery coating on wisteria leaves and shoots. It thrives in warm, humid conditions and can weaken the plant over time. Improve air circulation around plants by pruning away dense growth, avoiding overhead watering, and applying fungicidal sprays containing sulphur or potassium bicarbonate to affected plants.
Wisteria blight, caused by the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria, can lead to leaf spotting, dieback, and overall decline of wisteria plants. Remove and destroy infected plant parts, avoid overhead watering, and apply fungicidal sprays containing copper or thiophanate-methyl to help control the disease.
Leaf spot diseases, caused by various fungal pathogens, can cause dark spots or lesions on wisteria leaves. To prevent leaf spots, avoid overhead watering, prune away infected plant parts, and apply fungicidal sprays if necessary.
Root rot can occur in wisteria plants growing in poorly drained or waterlogged soil. Improve soil drainage by amending heavy clay soils with organic matter, avoiding overwatering, and ensuring that plants are planted at the correct depth to prevent the crown from becoming waterlogged.
Graft failure is one of the most distressing wisteria problems because it can strike plants that have been flowering beautifully for years with no warning. Almost all named wisteria cultivars are grafted onto rootstock, with the graft union visible as a slight bulge near the base of the main stem just above soil level. Over time, and particularly in wet or poorly-drained conditions, this union can break down. The rootstock and the named cultivar gradually separate, and the plant begins to decline.
How to identify graft failure: The clearest sign is new shoots emerging from below ground level or from below the graft union on the main stem. These shoots are being produced by the rootstock rather than the named cultivar, and they will grow vigorously but produce inferior flowers or no flowers at all if left unchecked. At the same time, the main plant above the graft union may begin to show signs of decline, with reduced vigour, yellowing foliage and poor flowering.
What to do: Remove all shoots emerging from below the graft union immediately, cutting them back to their point of origin rather than just trimming them. If caught early, the main plant can continue flowering for years once the competing rootstock growth is removed consistently. If the graft union itself has visibly broken down and the main stem is showing signs of rot or structural weakness at that point, the plant is unlikely to recover fully.
In this case, taking softwood cuttings from healthy growth above the union in late spring is the best way to preserve the cultivar, and a new grafted plant from a reputable nursery will establish far more quickly than attempting to rescue a failing graft. Improving drainage around the base of the plant and keeping the graft union clear of soil, mulch and debris is the best prevention.
⚠️ Warning
Never mound soil, bark mulch or compost directly against the main stem of a wisteria. Keeping organic material in contact with the graft union encourages the moisture and fungal conditions that cause graft failure. Always keep a clear collar of bare soil around the base of the main stem when mulching the surrounding root zone.
Regularly inspecting your wisteria plants for signs of pests and diseases, practising good cultural practices such as proper pruning and watering, and addressing issues promptly can help keep your wisteria healthy and vibrant in the garden. Do not give up, Ninjas!
Yes it can, if left completely unmanaged. Wisteria grown directly into guttering, under roof tiles or into window frames can cause real structural problems over time. The stems thicken substantially with age and can exert significant force on any surface they wrap around. The answer is not to avoid growing wisteria against your house, but to manage it properly with a twice-yearly pruning routine and good support wires that hold the plant slightly away from the wall. A well-managed wisteria on a house wall is perfectly safe and causes no damage.
Wisteria is one of the fastest-growing climbing plants you can grow in a UK garden. In a good growing season, a healthy established plant can put on three metres or more of new growth. In its first few years after planting, it will establish more slowly as the root system develops, but once settled in a good position with adequate sun, it grows with real vigour. This is why the twice-yearly pruning is so important. Without it, the plant rapidly gets out of hand.
Yes, though it is far from the ideal situation for the plant. If you do grow wisteria in a container, choose the largest pot you can accommodate, use a loam-based compost such as John Innes No. 3, and water and feed far more regularly than you would a border-grown specimen. Container wisteria will need potting every two to three years as it outgrows its pot. The variety ‘Amethyst Falls’ is a more compact American cultivar that handles container growing better than the vigorous Chinese and Japanese species, and it flowers younger, too.
Do not rush to prune a newly planted wisteria in its first year. The priority is establishment, and the plant needs its foliage to photosynthesise and put energy into developing its root system. In the second year, begin the formative pruning described in the training section above, selecting and tying in your main framework branches. The full twice-yearly pruning routine for flowering should only begin once the framework is in place, usually from year three or four onwards.
Wisteria is generally considered deer-resistant due to its toxicity, though no plant is completely immune if deer are hungry enough. In the UK gardens deer pressure on wisteria is rarely a significant problem, particularly in more urban and suburban settings. If you garden in a rural area with high deer pressure, the young growth in spring can occasionally be browsed, but established plants recover quickly.
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Wisteria can add a real wow factor to your garden in summer and provide a soft green canopy to climb up walls or pergolas. Plant it correctly, fix it to a proper support, train the framework in those early years, and then commit to pruning twice a year without fail. Do all of those things, and you will have one of the most spectacular plants in the UK horticultural repertoire, flowering reliably for you every May and June for decades to come.
Now that you know exactly how to prune your wisteria and what it needs to thrive, you are set for success. The confidence to prune boldly is the single biggest thing that separates the gardeners whose wisteria flowers every year from those who are still waiting.
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Happy Gardening!
Lee Burkhill, known as the Garden Ninja, is an award-winning garden designer and horticulturist with over 30 years of gardening experience and 15 years as a professional garden designer. A qualified RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) professional, Lee specialises in sustainable garden design and practical horticultural advice. He designs and presents on BBC1’s Garden Rescue and in leading gardening publications. Lee combines three decades of hands-on gardening knowledge with professional design qualifications to help gardeners create beautiful, functional outdoor spaces.
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This is really useful and I do hope that after nearly three years of having zero flowers on my ‘inherited’ ( it was at my home when we moved in) that we finally see some flowers! Thank you! Just one question – my wisteria is planted in the ground…. What should I feed it with? Many thanks!
Hi Rebecca, I wouldn’t feed a wisteria unless showing signs of illness or yellowing leaves. They simply don’t need feeding as they are so vigorous unless your soil type is super poor. Hope that helps. Lee
i have never really pruned my wisteria, she is about 5 years old. any suggestions ? she is kinda gangly
Hi Kristine. There’s still time now so I’d get out there and nip her back to 3 buds pronto! Good luck with the pruning and happy gardening. 🥷🌿🤘
Hello, do I still nip them ti 6 buds this summer even though it has never flowered?
Hi Florence, Yes this way you’re conserving energy for it to flower next year! Happy Wisteria pruning. Lee
Thank you for all of the helpful information!
I am trying to train my wisteria to grow over a pergola. How do I get it to keep growing to cover if I am cutting back to the third bud? I feel like I’m missing some thing.
I am growing a standard sinensis in a pot. In full sun and has many leaves and green tendrils. Only hot it this spring and it hasn’t flowered yet. I water often and have fed it up to this month ..June. In John inner 3 compost .
Should I prune the long green shoots in June rather than July as I am in east Scotland? Will be colder than the south and longerdaylight .
This guide was super helpful! I’ve always been intimidated by pruning my wisteria, but your step-by-step instructions made it seem much less daunting. Can’t wait to try the summer pruning tips! Thanks for sharing your expertise!