Wisteria for natural fencing

Has anyone here uses wisteria as natural fencing?

I have added it to my woven fence with a number of other things. So far it hasn't done much but the plants were bareroot and only planted two years ago. I think this year they might take off more.

Daniel,Wisteria starts off slow (in my experience) .. My wife and I planted an 18" stick in the ground 8 years ago. Not much happened till the fourth year.  then it just blew up with a few blossoms. This year was a ten foot tall by ten foot wide,almost solid purple bloom. I can smell it from the bottom of a long driveway. Give it a year or two. your fence is gonna look wonderfull...Larry

Larry Bock wrote:Daniel,Wisteria starts off slow (in my experience) .. My wife and I planted an 18" stick in the ground 8 years ago. Not much happened till the fourth year.  then it just blew up with a few blossoms. This year was a ten foot tall by ten foot wide,almost solid purple bloom. I can smell it from the bottom of a long driveway. Give it a year or two. your fence is gonna look wonderfull...Larry

Yes!  ...and then if you move away and leave it to itself, it will climb and cover everything in sight  Speaking from experience...I planted a 'stick' back in the seventies on our then homestead...we moved away in the eighties and rarely got back there...now the wisteria has covered maybe a half acre of the five acre piece.  We've tried to cut it back and our boys tried to burn it back.  Makes me think I should go check on it...I was always surprised that the deer didn't eat it, our goats at the time did.

I do think  that there are different varieties and maybe all aren't equally rampant.  My family won't let me  plant any now, but I do enjoy seeing it bloom in other folks yards....

Daniel,Judith has a good point about it getting out of hand. Twice a year I have to cut back the ground runners to keep it under control and in its place. This particular plant was planted next a 4x4 post for support and is in a bush configuration. I suppose you could weave these down low? tell you one thing,a few years down the road,you wont be able to drive a truck through your fence, much less worrying about keeping live stock or children from wandering off lol....Larry

A friend of mine inherited her farm from her grandmother.  The only condition mentioned in the will regarding this inheritance was that "she never plant wisteria on the property"...  When I heard this I thought it amusing however since then I have learned the wisdom of it the hard way.  It may start slowly but after a while it will take over.    I have it in a few places on my property and it is a constant struggle trying to control it.  It has a lovely short lived flower but it definitely is a plant to avoid having....  I was recently pleased to see one of my horses eat it (although I think I have read that it is toxic to animals).  I thought he might help me control it,,,

A friend of mine inherited her farm from her grandmother.  The only condition mentioned in the will regarding this inheritance was that "she never plant wisteria on the property"...

...written in the will I might do that! ...lovely flowers and scent but a lifetime responsibility.
I think it really is that serious...there is a cabin under the vines in this pic...more than thirty years from planting a stick...  https://permies.com/t/39732/permaculture-projects/Reviving-homestead-wisteria#564094

It is lovely, but after my experience, I would never ever plant it on purpose. And I would put it in my will not to, either! Even the "not invasive" varieties can be very difficult to keep under control. We just bought our first home and I spent months trying to reclaim our yard from it. So much work.  It had been neglected for only a few months, and had obviously only been planted in two spots along a fence. Had I known I'd be pulling it out from all over yard probably forever, I would've offered less on the house LOL (but seriously, though)

We, too, planted one bush in the early 70's, and there was one at my mothers on the other side of the 40 acres. We moved away for about 30 years. now mom's bush and ours are joined across and through the swamp!  those 2 plants now "own" probably 5 or more acres! I wish we had planted kudzu instead, especially now that Raven has started the thread on making cloth for the fibers. All parts of kudzu are edible but I have read that all parts of wisteria are toxic. of course I have also read that dry beans and poke are toxic but have eaten both all my 67 years. Bottom line is I would never plant wisteria again! But probably will set out some kudzu soon!