Wisteria pergola/canopy?

[simpsongal]

We have like a dozen wisteria plants climbing up the side of our brick garage wall. Apparently, there used to be robust wisteria cover all over the wall (there are nails for climbing) but the sellers ripped it out before putting the house on the market. But the wisteria came back.

We'd like to put a patio in that area. It gets full sun, so I was thinking a pergola would provide a nice place for the wisteria to climb w/the added benefit of providing some shade. Anyone have experience w/this type of setup? Should I be cautious about anything? I figured it would be better to direct the wisteria away from the house to pergola.

I was thinking of getting or making a metal pergola for sturdiness (no rotting either). I had wisteria climb a trelis in my old garden and the base limbs got so thick and strong that they broke the wooden trellis in several places.

[kaylie]

It might be worth cross-posting this on the gardening board so that the tree experts are sure to see it. Treedimensional is a tree genius and she can probably tell you if there's anything wrong with your idea.

[minniebee]

We have wisteria growing on our pergola. We didn't plant it, the previous owners of our house did. We have a wood pergola. I've attached a photo from a couple of summers ago, our first summer in the house. It does provide great shade on our pergola, which is especially nice because it's on the south side of our house, and it would get pretty hot out on the deck without the shade.

Initially, there were vines growing on all 4 corners of the pergola. I eventually ripped out the two that were adjacent to the house (about a month after this photo was taken), the vines were growing under the siding. It probably wouldn't be a problem with a brick house, but as you can see in the photo, we have vinyl siding, and I didn't want the wisteria damaging the siding.

I will say that wisteria can very easily get out of control. You have to trim and train regularly. I wouldn't call it a low-maintenance plant.

[FoxInFiji]

I think a metal pergola is a great idea. We can't grow wisteria here but from what I've read it can get to be very heavy as the plant gets older.

[simpsongal]

That's lovely, minniebee! I can see why you removed the wisteria closest to the house. We have a stand-alone wisteria near our driveway. You're right, I need to trim it every 2 weeks.

I'll post on gardening too! Thanks all.

[minniebee]

Jun 19, 2012 10:14:44 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

I think a metal pergola is a great idea. We can't grow wisteria here but from what I've read it can get to be very heavy as the plant gets older.

Supposedly, wisteria isn't easy to grow where I live either (zone 4a), but it sure grows like crazy in my yard! Apparently there are some hearty varieties of the plant that can handle cold winters, and that must be what was planted at our house. It is one of the last plants to leaf out in the spring, but it certainly grows.

[FoxInFiji]

Jun 19, 2012 12:14:48 GMT -5 minniebee said:

Jun 19, 2012 10:14:44 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

I think a metal pergola is a great idea. We can't grow wisteria here but from what I've read it can get to be very heavy as the plant gets older.

Supposedly, wisteria isn't easy to grow where I live either (zone 4a), but it sure grows like crazy in my yard! Apparently there are some hearty varieties of the plant that can handle cold winters, and that must be what was planted at our house. It is one of the last plants to leaf out in the spring, but it certainly grows.

Interesting! I've seen it growing at a botanical gardens in my area but it was in a sheltered spot and I figured they probably have the time and energy to baby it. I haven't heard of an aggressive variety able to handle our cold temperatures. Then again I've heard you can grow almost anything in a colder climate zone if you start it from seed instead of transplanting.

I'm planning to build a trellis in front of our fence for a climbing hydrangea. I know they grow here fine and there is a new variety I really want that has a variegated leaf (interest for when it's not blooming!) so I'll probably just stick with that. But like wisteria it can get heavy and large so I'm trying to figure how how we want to build the trellis and how we can expand it in the future if it gets too big.

[simpsongal]

I've seen a lot of pics online of pergolas w/wooden or brick posts and metal over the top. I was thinking of asking my dad to help us with one next year (he's a welder).