A couple of Wisteria sinensis -- AND update

For the first time ever, both of my Wisteria are blooming this year. The first couple of pictures are of the older tree, though it has been in a pot for a shorter time (1998).

This one bloomed (and a bit nicer, I think) a couple of years ago. Its blooms were zapped by a late freeze last year.





This one has been in a pot since 1993.

NICE JIM! I REALLY LIKE THAT FIRST ONE!

MAYBE YOU CAN ANSWER A QUESTION FOR ME. CAN WISTERIA BE TRUNK CHOPPED DOWN TO ABOUT 2" WITHOUT KILLING THEM? I HAVE A FEW TALL THIN ONES AND I WANT TO GET SOME KIND OF TAPER GOING. THANKS.

BOB.

You can do just about anything you want with and to them. They are weeds in the truest sense of the word.

For three years now, I've been TRYING to kill one that grew in front of our house. It keeps on sending sprouts up through the lawn -- some of them 30 feet from the original spot it was growing! I don't know how much Roundup I've slopped on that plant in the last 3 years. I fully expect now sprouts this spring.

Hi, Jim:

Lovely trees...thanks so much for posting...this whets my appetite once again...the species was dear to my father and I have wanted to add one to my collection for years...any thoughts on a reliable source where I might obtain some reasonably advanced stock to work with (as I am no longer a "young" man :-)

A few years ago I purchased a collected W. chinesis from Mark Rockwell (Virginia)....it did not survive, however.

Thanks in advance. Jim.

Beautiful flowers, once again.

Regards,
Tom

THANKS JIM. THAT'S WHAT MINE ARE. LARGE RUNNERS FROM A WISTERIA THAT HAS TOTALLY ENGULFED A TREE ON THE FUTURE SITE OF OUR LOCAL HUMANE SOCIETY. FOR A SMALL DONATION, I WAS ABLE TO TAKE WHAT I WANTED EXCEPT FOR THE MAIN TRUNK. I TRIED TO CONVINCE THEM ABOUT THE INVASIVENESS OF THIS "WEED" BUT NO DICE, NO TRUNK!

I'VE NEVER NOTICED WISTERIA IN MY AREA UNTIL LAST LAST YEAR. THERE WERE FIVE IN FLOWER AND THEY ARE LARGE. ONE IS IN TREE FORM IN FRONT OF A HOUSE NEAR ME AND IT LOOKED FANTASTIC!. I WILL BE KNOCKING ON THEIR DOOR THIS SPRING TO ASK ABOUT HOW THEY GOT IT TO LOOK THAT WAY!

I have 3 Wisterias collected and had luck using the river sand, as return substratum!

Thanks Luciano.
http://bonsaistudio.forumvila.com/index.php

Lovely little Wisterias Jim. I'm working on a few larger ones that I air layered and would love to have them llooking as nice as yours. Great work!

JimLewis wrote:You can do just about anything you want with and to them. They are weeds in the truest sense of the word.

For three years now, I've been TRYING to kill one that grew in front of our house. It keeps on sending sprouts up through the lawn -- some of them 30 feet from the original spot it was growing! I don't know how much Roundup I've slopped on that plant in the last 3 years. I fully expect now sprouts this spring.

I took that advice to heart a few years ago with a wisteria which had a reverse taper problem. While it is true that wisteria are weed-like (at least here in the southern USA), they can die like any life-form. Taking the above advice, I went ahead and cut back to the point where the reverse taper started. The wisteria responded by never sprouting out again on the main trunk. I still have sprouts from the roots which are coming along, but the nice base died and decomposed.
So, feel free to take your chances. The odds are good that the wisteria will survive. But sometimes they die to spite you!

wondeful wisteria bonsai trees jim and how offten did you repot them ? and how long seen you change the pots and in winter time did you keep the root moist as the bonsai plants ? and fertilization? you what type of fertilization?

Looking good Jim. I know it's warmer on your side of the mountain, but it seems early for these wisteria to be this far along. Did you keep them outside or have they had some help breaking dormancy? - AJ

I have the same question...my wisteria haven't moved at all this year, but my Trident Maples are sprouting!

The last two questions first. I brought these trees inside a day or so before that last cold snap we had, and they've been in my downstairs sunroom ever since (before moving to the living room a day or so ago). I brought them in because the flower buds were already forming and last year I lost the buds to that late freeze. I guess being in a warmish basement sunroom hastened their blooming. AND, these are north Florida wisteria -- which would be blooming about now to early March, anyway "back home." It may take more than 3 years to adapt to a new climate.

Nguyen, It has been a while since I repotted -- 2004 for the one in the blue pot and 2003 for the other one. For most of the winter here, they have simply been sitting on my tables out behind my house. Soil has been frozen a good deal of the time (but see above). In the summer, I keep them sitting in a saucer of water, so the bottom of the bonsai pot is always saturated. I don't think I fertilized them more than twice last summer. Standard Miracle-Gro mix.

You need to mistreat the roots before these will do a good job of blooming. I think I'll need to repot this year (the pots are feeling very light, as if the soil is about gone and only roots are down there) which probably means I won't get much, if any, bloom next year.

Tom. in MY opinion nurseries should not sell these in the USA -- at least not where they will grow in the wild. They are very invasive. But if you take a trip "down south" somewhere, I'm sure some bonsaiest would be able to point you to places where they have escaped into the natural landscape and you can dig to your heart's content.

Alan, I urge you to try again. These things shuld be virtually indestructible.

Nice looking plants! I'm glad to hear that explanation. I know there are climate variations, but here in eastern PA, I brought one of mine in a bit over a week ago and the buds are barely beginning to swell -- natural bloom is more like early May outdoors. I have four I'm trying to cycle through, each year I try forcing one into bloom for an art show I'm involved with in late March. I find it takes about six weeks here. I sometimes shift them to warmer or colder parts of the house if they need to be speeded up or slowed down. Mine are a long way from serious bonsai, partly because I'm more interested in using them as flowering plants. (And this year's is the most boring of the lot, but it has to start somewhere.)

DaveT

I had to update before the flowers start fall off. I think I may leave one or two seeds for a while.



And one more -- with flash so the trunk shows a bit better.

woollllllllll what a pay off time been jim full blooming i have 1 but don't know if it will blooming this years or not and will you or not repot this year ? and what type a bonsai soil how do you mix them ? thanks you for your info and you have a good day jim

nguyen

Thanks. I just couldn't resist putting a fresh picture up. It'll be the last until a photo of the tree with a seed pod hanging down. Never fear. I will destroy the seeds!

I just about have to repot this year. I'll pot in my standard 70-80% Turface 20-30% bark mulch mix. I seldom measure anything, hence the imprecise figures.

It will be a few weeks before the wisteria bloom here in suburban Maryland, but here are some photos from a couple of years back. The white one I bought from a nursery as a landscape plant, and grew in the ground for several years to thicken the lower trunk.


This was from a seed I planted in 1979. The first time I dug it up, it "died", but then the roots still in the ground sent up new growth, and I was eventually able to try again. Here it is in 2005.




Here it is in 2007, with a different front.

Congratulations Jim with these results!

Anybody have any hints for cuttings from sinensis?? I have a nice one here on a trelis ---but the cuttings I've taken havent well---taken. Beautiful wisterias!!

Paul Landis wrote:Anybody have any hints for cuttings from sinensis?? I have a nice one here on a trelis ---but the cuttings I've taken havent well---taken. Beautiful wisterias!!

Your BEST bet would be to take one of the long tendrils, pull it to the ground, and bury it (or set a brick over it so it is in close contact with the ground and just let it root. Dirr says that cuttings taken in June and July rooted without treatment.

Thanks Jim!!! I'll give it a try.

They are also one of the easiest plants to air layer if you can find an interesting part. It will soon be the right time of year too. Mine regularly fill the plastic, moss filled bag with white roots after 3 or 4 weeks.