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P rune wisteria this month for a better show next spring. It’s the best time as healthy plants will have produced many long, thin shoots recently.
If you shorten them now, sunshine will mature the stumps and encourage the plant to develop more buds.
Take each long, wispy shoot and cut it back, leaving roughly nine leaves or dormant buds on the stump. There’s no need to count each too precisely, just make sure the stumps are roughly 15cm to 20cm long.
For maximum flower size and quality, it’s worth giving each stump a second prune in January. At that time, you will reduce the stumps to about three buds.
Over time, , wisteria prunedp like this will develop twiggy flowering ‘spurs’ in the same way that apple or pear trees do.
With age, these make attractive winter features, especially as the plant becomes old and gnarled.
If your wisteria is young and still developing its framework, there’s a different technique.
Select the best and most conveniently placed young stems for training and instead of pruning, secure them to the plant’s support.
While training, try to develop an even spread with branches attractively spaced. Don’t allow stems to grow up vertically — arrange them in a fan formation or fix them horizontally along the support.
Young wisterias are thirsty plants. If you have planted any within the past three years, water them thoroughly during dry periods.