Wisteria sinensis – Standards (Chinese Wisteria)

A standard-grown Wisteria transforms a rampant clamberer into a well-behaved tree, basically. Carefully cultivated and trained to produce a strong trunk with a defined crown at the top, all that vigour is channelled into achieving a tremendous architectural shape that stands up all by itself. Buckets of trembly lilac flowers will cloud over the bare branches in spring and these ones are at perfect hooter-height for breathing in their lovely fragrance. Leaves come after, rapidly clothing the crown in a big puff of frothy foliage and really enhancing the tree-like quality of these plants. They really are smashing grown this way: they can be planted into borders as specimens and don’t require an arbour or pergola or similar structure to grow up. Very well-behaved and far less inclined to go wandering for trouble, they are incredibly easy to prune and keep neat. We find their cloudy forms a nice foil and alternative to some of the more tightly-clipped garden trees and if you want an informal dollop of architecture for a Mediterranean or more naturalistic scheme, these are for you.

The Wisteria Sinensis Family

Vigorous isn’t the half of it. This deciduous woody-stemmed climber grows rampantly and will clamber up, around and over anything in its path. The species type of Chinese Wisteria, there are a number of cultivars but the original one can’t be beaten for hardiness and reliability of flowering. Lilac blooms pop out of the bare stems in early spring and these are abundant, and very pretty. Produced on dangly panicles, the flowers en masse are exactly what you’d expect from this garden favourite: abundant, fragrant and very impactful. Following the flowers, it has big fluffy leaves that emerge coppery yellow and mature to a lovely vibrant green. 

(technically each leaf is composed of little ‘leaflets’ which give them a ferny, frothy effect) these clothe the vine very, very thickly and will transform a bare wall or pergola into a huge expanse of rippling green. The twiney-viney woody stems need support and things to grab hold of so ensure your structures are sturdy. Magic for clothing walls and training over doorways and arches, but can be allowed to scramble through a big tree or over a gazebo.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.