Gardening and dogs

Over the years, I occasionally had to take the train up to London from the South Coast.  Just before reaching Waterloo on the western side of the tracks, I noticed a rather unusual wisteria.

Georgian House

It grows up a Georgian house a little like this one.  The thing that amazed me was that it appeared to stay within the confines of just one house and didn’t encroach onto the space of its neighbours.  I couldn’t imagine how they managed to do this.  I never saw scaffolding (which must be necessary) up to prune it.  My wisteria is such a thug growing feet in a day, this had to be one of the wonders of the wisteria world.

Last July I started working in an office in a Queen Anne style mansion which has both Wisteria and Magnolia Grandiflora (as well as a rose) growing up it.  Again, the same conundrum,  the wisteria stays within its bounds  but this time I know no one has pruned it since July.

Profusion of wisteria buds

The thing I find most amazing is that the wisteria is covered in flower buds (it is much more advanced than mine) and the growths are relatively short.

Short Wisteria growths

So this begs a few questions.  Does the constant pruning that I (feel I) have to do to ensure that my wisteria stays within the confines of my modest two storey house mean that it is much more vigorous than it might otherwise be?  Might I be able to reduce the amount of pruning that I do?  Certainly, the January prune for flowers looks as if it might not be necessary, at least not on very tall buildings.

I will keep an eye on the wisteria at work and watch for it to be pruned and let you know as and when it is.  There is obviously a lot more I have to learn about this beautiful climber.