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Thread: Hard Decision

  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Hard Decision

    Yesterday I removed the trailing arm of the wisteria which was under the eaves of the tea-house. it was getting far too heavy, as where it joined at the right-hand end of the roof, it was now as thick as my arm.

    So we've gone from this.



    To this.



    It looks a bit stark, but I didn't want to risk the increasing weight damaging the building (or glorified "shed" if you like) as it's worn well for twenty-seven years with just a bit of paint every now and again. Anyway, we'll be able to see the fairy lights strung round the eaves, "for five minutes at Christmas." No, actually I like to know everything is working, even though the lights are really used. As I say, if I turn on all fourteen lights in the garden, "the street lights in our road dim."


    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  2. #2
    still looks great m8!

  3. #3
    i can see it does make a bit of a difference but yes as life says still looks outstanding. i would think it would of been a nightmare if the building got damaged as it is a credit to your workmanship.

  4. #4
    Love the look of the tea house with it still there but also looks nice and clean without it there

  5. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for your kind words.

    My concern was for the thin soffit that supports the edge of the roof, the weight plus the effect of any high winds on the foliage, might drag it off.

    I've never had any problems with high winds even though over the years a few neighbours have lost a few fence panels. My theory is that the shape of the roof acts as a "reverse wing" and the wind pushes downwards despite the huge overhang.

    For newer contributors, here's my video (a series of still pictures) of it's construction. It was quite easy, well I found it so, given that I wasn't in that line of business.

    Given that the video has had over 16,000 hits, I dunno, "there might be another one, in a garden near you."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py1oKlpRABw
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  6. #6
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion miles41's Avatar
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    Still looking good DHR!

    I also had to cut back my wisteria on the front of our house last month as it grows like crazy and was staring to pull the down pipe off the house! It's shooting again now and we have our 3rd bloom of flowers; although not as prolific as the spring display.
    1630 Gallon raised pond
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    Standard wall skimmer
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    and some nice koi

  7. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    The unwanted side shoots are a nightmare to control, they seem to appear over-night, I'm forever pruning them off. They'll sprout out from anywhere on the plant upwards, from even below the soil around the roots.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  8. #8
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Davej's Avatar
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    Hard decision DHR but these things need to be done and all looking neat and tidy again.

    Dave

  9. #9
    Cracking video I hadn't seen it till now. The wisteria does need cutting back loads at my mums house else the damage it can do would cost a fortune. This is it cut right back but u might be able the see the trunk in the photo which give a indication it must have been there a while ImageUploadedByTapatalk1408739141.834997.jpg


    From David Hawes

  10. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    They're quite resilient to hard pruning. The one on the pergola next to the pool I've over the years reduced to two lines of eight heads of blooms one at each end of the cross pieces. Even with just these the amount of foliage that follows the blooms covers most of the pergola. In September I'll start stripping a lot of it, which cuts down collecting falling leaves daily for weeks. Fortunately it doesn't shed its leaves until pretty late on because of the heat from the pool. I've got the cover and net over the pool, long before they start to fall of their own accord.



    It was a sad little thing on the side of the garage when we moved here in 1972.
    This is the second pergola I built for it about five years ago, as the original one I made twenty odd years ago of 3" X 2" was struggling to keep it up. I manager to replace it by propping the wisteria up whilst I built the other. There's two 4" X 4" X 16ft beams supporting it now.

    As well as the two 4" X 4" posts that hold it up pool side, I had to make several of these special support brackets for the garage wall, to accommodate the guttering. The tangle of wires are the fairy lights.

    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  11. #11
    Bit jealous of those wisteria flowers. Mine is 15years old and I have only had one miserable flower.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  12. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by angela View Post
    Bit jealous of those wisteria flowers. Mine is 15years old and I have only had one miserable flower.



    Nice picture. Lots of foliage though.

    Are you pruning it correctly?

    This should be done in January. I actually do our five, between Christmas and New Year now. Prune them down to either two or four buds on each branch.

    Think of the plant as a "leaky hose." It'll try to put it's energy into growth nearer the root than at the end where you want it to grow. Strip of all the unnecessary side shoots that do nothing, you won't usually get blooms on this year's growth.

    Our newest wisteria took eight years before it started flowering, despite it being pruned correctly each year. Some of them don't ever flower.

    Anyone buying one, should buy one in April already in bloom, or if later in the year, one where you can see the serrated stalks on it, where it has bloomed.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley View Post



    Nice picture. Lots of foliage though.

    Are you pruning it correctly?

    This should be done in January. I actually do our five, between Christmas and New Year now. Prune them down to either two or four buds on each branch.

    Think of the plant as a "leaky hose." It'll try to put it's energy into growth nearer the root than at the end where you want it to grow. Strip of all the unnecessary side shoots that do nothing, you won't usually get blooms on this year's growth.

    Our newest wisteria took eight years before it started flowering, despite it being pruned correctly each year. Some of them don't ever flower.

    Anyone buying one, should buy one in April already in bloom, or if later in the year, one where you can see the serrated stalks on it, where it has bloomed.
    January it is then. I usually prune about now as it seems to go wild this time of year. I read that you should always buy a wisteria that is in flower. I wouldn't want to do away with the one that I have but might have to. Like you description ( Leaky hose) that will stick in my head now. Love your garden I think I have said this before.

  14. #14
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion miles41's Avatar
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    I would never buy one that that's not flowering in its pot at the garden centre, as, like DHR says, some don't.

    But persevere with yours, as it sounds as though it could want to flower. They do need pruning at least twice a year, certainly by late August and again by the end of January. Try to think of them a bit like apple trees, that you're trying to develop fruiting spurs. Cut to 3 or 4 buds on each shoot in late January and hopefully it should perform for you.
    1630 Gallon raised pond
    4" 'Avenue' bottom drain
    Estro sieve
    Econobead EB60 bead filter
    Sequence 18000 pump, 6000 pump on skimmer line
    Elecro 2kW in-line heater
    Evolution Aqua 70 air pump
    Standard wall skimmer
    Hozelock Vorton 55watt UV
    and some nice koi

  15. #15
    Will do Miles, maybe next year I will be able to show of my wisteria. Getting this advice from my koi forum will shock my garden club members

  16. #16
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion miles41's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by angela View Post
    Will do Miles, maybe next year I will be able to show of my wisteria. Getting this advice from my koi forum will shock my garden club members
    Lol, well, that's my other hobby, gardening....
    1630 Gallon raised pond
    4" 'Avenue' bottom drain
    Estro sieve
    Econobead EB60 bead filter
    Sequence 18000 pump, 6000 pump on skimmer line
    Elecro 2kW in-line heater
    Evolution Aqua 70 air pump
    Standard wall skimmer
    Hozelock Vorton 55watt UV
    and some nice koi

  17. #17
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    I prune mine continuously through the summer. If you look at the photo of the pool-side pergola, you'll see a strand growing below the branch that is showing from left to right. You can also see another that's growing from the top and is just visible near the angle of the house roof. There'll be dozens of these growing each week through the year and they grow as much as five or six inches in a couple of days. I prune them off, for the high ones I use a long-handled pruner, or get up there with a ladder.
    If I didn't there'd be no order.

    Here's a photo of the one on the fence between the shed and the tea-house.
    This we've trained over the years. It's attached to wires strung between the concrete fence posts, not attached to the wooden panels. This means that we can change a panel if necessary without disturbing the plant.

    You know you've got it right when the blooms appear before the foliage.

    This is what you should be aiming for, no "wispy branches," just the main ones.




    You'll then get the bloom buds if you've pruned it correctly. As you'll see, no leaf buds at all yet.




    Then the blooms before the foliage.





    The foliage soon catches up with the blooms.

    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  18. #18
    They all look so lovely, do they have a scent? ( not a gardener here)

  19. #19
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion miles41's Avatar
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    Indeed they do have Marc, a very strong one which is very pleasant indeed.
    1630 Gallon raised pond
    4" 'Avenue' bottom drain
    Estro sieve
    Econobead EB60 bead filter
    Sequence 18000 pump, 6000 pump on skimmer line
    Elecro 2kW in-line heater
    Evolution Aqua 70 air pump
    Standard wall skimmer
    Hozelock Vorton 55watt UV
    and some nice koi

  20. #20
    Brill, that looks like a project for the new year....

 

 
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