Wisteria sinensis

Wisteria sinensis, Chinese Wisteria, the well-known climbing woody vine is one of the UK's most popular climbers. Its lilac-coloured racemes can be seen everywhere in Spring and the fragrance from them is often over-powering. A hardy vigourous climber that characteristically twines counter-clockwise on itself creating spiraling liana-like growth, Wisteria sinensis needs plenty of room in which to spread and requires a very strong support on which to grow. To prevent it growing too large the main cultivation requirement is for it to pruned back twice a year: once at the end of winter and once again at the end of summer. The summer pruning of the new year's growth is essential to prevent the plant from taking over. Prune back the tendrils to five or six buds to let in some air so you can see what you've got and to encourage the formation of new flower buds. Remove any long growth that has strayed into areas you don't want it to go. Prune back harder in January or February to about three buds to give it a final tidy, remove any dead wood and shape it before the new season's growth starts.

In the unlikely event that you have an enormous amount of space in which to grow it, Wisteria can also be trained to grow as a tree. It will need a tall vertical support to get it started.