I planted a wisteria!

[BellsAndFootfalls]

I’ve wanted one forever, this is a south facing wall and I’ve put up some hefty wire, fingers crossed it takes off. We’ve been in our new build with its barren garden for 18 months now and establishing a garden is going so slowly. I’ll be able to see this wisteria from the kitchen, hopefully it’s a wall of colour in a few years time

Please post updates as it grows, OP - I love Wisteria! Still trying to convince my husband to let me plant one

Will do @CaribouCarafe luckily for me DH is completely clueless when it comes to gardening so I've got free reign

We planted ours about 7 years ago, it’s going to look amazing this year, there are so many buds

That’s going to look amazing!

We are also in a new build. Everything I plant seems to disappear into the vastness of the empty garden.

What else do you have planned? And are you planning it in advance, or just going with the flow?

@EnjoyingTheSilence please post pictures when it blooms!

@OwlCityisthemostunderrated I haven't done too much planning but I probably should now the soil quality is better. When we moved in there was hardly any soil, it's mostly builders sand and rubble! I've had about 10 bulk bags of top soil and compost delivered and we built some raised beds. I started with evergreen plants out the back - star jasmine, choisya, buddleia, rosemary and lavender. The front garden doesn't get much sun so I've gone for ferns, hellebores, camellia and skimmia japonica. I planted hebes but they died. There's a Californian lilac out the front that is the only plant that was here before us. It looked completely dead after the deep frost in December 22 but I cut it right back and now it's huge and about to bloom. I put lots of bulbs in in autumn for some interest - daffodils and snow drops mostly. I've planted a few things at a time, and had to move things that weren't doing well. Anything that takes off, I plant more of it! There's still lots of empty space though. It's slow going

How exciting!

Sounds wonderful.

Ours grows like a weed. Dh loves it so he won't let me pull it down, I hate the way it blocks light coming in - putting it on a fence is a much better idea.

Looks like you have a lot of flower buds, which is really good, because sometimes Wisteria doesn't flower for no obvious reason, - so it's looking promising. They grow really fast. Prune in the summer (post flowering), then again in Jan/Feb.

Look up YouTube videos for the how to prune (not complicated and you can't go far wrong).

It sounds as if you've established a backbone of shrubs, so now look at perennials. I recommend the following ones, as they are all very bee-friendly, easy maintenance, resistant to pests/disease -

Salvia Amistad and/or Salvia Blue Butterflies (both flower well into autumn and are bulky enough to fill a lot of space, but still pretty)
Geranium Rozanne (a lower height one beloved by bees)
Verbena Bonariensis (tall, delicate, pretty, and butterflies and dragonflies also like it)

Then buy some seeds of this annual, can be sown direct in the soil, just don't overdo it to avoid having to thin out the seedlings https://www.stocksandgreen.com/products/nigella-hispanica-white-seeds

I can't imagine not being 'allowed' to plant a wisteria. What might happen if you disobeyed?

It is her husbands home too, he is also entitled to an opinion

Point taken. But it depends on how much he contributes to working and tending the garden, rather than simply having an opinion. It's also hard to imagine a really good reason for being anti-Wisteria.

As a PP said, it's just a case of it being his home too so if either of us veto something then it doesn't happen.

DH is an equal partner in every way so no concerns there. His main worries are whether it would exacerbate his hay-fever and the growth rate of wisteria (plus he doesn't seem to be much into flowering trees or hedges much to my sadness!). It's a small garden so I don't think I could sneakily plant one and get away with it!

Thanks @RogueFemale that's very helpful, I was feeling a bit unsure of what to approach next. I've got green manures covering a few beds, when I dig them in I can start planting perennials. Is it a bad idea to let green manures flower? I thought the bees would love it, but then I might be weeding them out forever? I planted a eucalyptus yesterday, we lived in Australia for a while so it was more for nostalgia, we'll see what it does!

There's a large oak tree at the corner of the garden, last year I pulled up weed mat from the base of the tree that had been put down by the developer when the house was built in 2020. This spring all sorts has sprung up underneath it - lots of different flowers including peonies, as well as mint, thyme and lemon balm. There was an old house here that was demolished, so these plants were sitting there dormant for years, waiting for the weed mat to be taken up!

The oak - wow! I read somewhere that oak is the native species that supports the most life - something like 400 species can be found - invertebrates and such, and lichens etc - those perennials sound wonderful! You have a whole little ecosystem there!

@MotherOfCatBoy it's huge and I love it! The clean up is massive from spring right through to autumn (blossom, acorns, leaves, giant wood pigeon poo!!) but it is worth it. It's clearly very old, but weirdly it's not covered by a TPO. On my to do list is finding out if it can get one... in case we ever sell and the new owner decides the clean up is too much

@RogueFemale I don't like wisteria - it grows very quickly and blocks light into our east-facing living room - as for looks the purple can look dusty and a bit insipid but my husband has always wanted wisteria growing on the house and wants to keep it (previous owners planted it) - so I'm "not allowed" to remove it - he therefore has to keep it under control. He loves it more than I hate it - so it stays. It's not a big deal though - people can have a difference of opinion without falling out or feeling their voice isn't heard.

@BellsAndFootfalls you should certainly be able to put a TPO on it - there should be a form/ process in the Planning section of your local council website. Unfortunately it does t mean no one will be able to cut it down, but it does force them to seek planning permission first. Go for it!

i wouldn’t have wisteria again much as i loved it, but it became so strong with very thick branches that it literally snapped the pergola in half.

theres an ancient one in Hertfordshire around a pub called the Holly Bush, potters crouch. Yeah, look it up on google maps, the roots are in the cellar and it is absolutely gorgeous as it stretches all the way around the pub.