So back in March I came home to find our neighbours had dug up a huge Wisteria to replace their fence, it was sat on the drive with hardly any roots and no foliage. At the time I wasn’t sure I could do anything with it or even if it would survive, so I put it in a bucket (all I had that it would fit in) and compost and have watered occasionally.
I was fairly certain that it had not survived, but this weekend I noticed that it had new shoots of growth emerging from all over it.
I had no input on the branch cuts or how it was recovered. However it feels like I must be able to do something with it as it has a thick, albeit straight trunk.
I have some questions, anyone have any design ideas as well as how do I move forward with getting it into a smaller pot and changing the soil…
I would say first priority is letting it recover and get healthy. For this year, I would let it grow. It should re-establish pretty vigorously and next year you can start thinking about design. You’ll probably even be able to repot next spring into a bonsai container.
Wisteria is a vine, so you will likely see die back down the trunk from the big cuts. It won’t callous over the way woody plants do, but it will leave interesting hollows as it ages.
I use a balanced feed which promotes both vegetative and blooming growth. You will want to get as much growth as possible as it recovers. As it matures, cutting back the vines and leaving the short branches will promote flowering.
