1. If you can brave the cold and wet it’s time to winter prune that Wisteria by cutting back all long whippy branches to within two buds of the main framework, so you can shape the plant for flowering.
More information on Wisteria pruning, including a video, from the RHS.
2. Any form of mulch is good on the soil now, in the form of your own homemade or bought compost, or even leaf mould if you have it. If you can’t face lightly forking it in, the worms will do it for you.
How many of us have been on holiday, fallen in love with the flora of the region and maybe even recognised a plant as one that we know can be grown in UK, either indoors or out? The temptation is huge to bring back a few seeds, to buy some rhizomes at a market (yes, those Madeiran Agapanthus were hard to resist) or – if we’re visiting friends, to accept a cutting or two. But we now know that as well as being illegal, in doing so we risk introducing plant diseases and devastating an aspect of the horticultural world we love.
The RHS give some clear advice on bringing plants back to the UK from your holidays (ie: DON’T!), but also what to do if you decide that you are willing to take on the administrative load and expense to get hold of a particular plant.
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 