Is this wysteria? Or just a weed?

curious before i cut it down, it seems to cling onto everything it grows near..

The bark on our Wisteria is a much lighter color. It will be easier to ID if you can wait until it leaves out.

If you are talking about the yellow flowers I think it is forsythia.

ETA...mine just stared blooming too.

Looks like a wild grape vine.

Is there a trunk of some sort? It looks like our wisteria. Which does shoot out and twine around branches of other nearby trees. If in doubt, wait till it fills in.

If the yellow flowers are on the plant you are asking about, you can trim it back to a desirable size. Keep it trimmed back and it will become more bush-like versus leggy and vine-like.

emmie said:

If you are talking about the yellow flowers I think it is forsythia.

ETA...mine just stared blooming too.

If the forsythia is mixed in with whatever the vine is, once you let the 'whatever's' leaves come out and figure out what it is, then you can decide what to do with it.  If it is wisteria, for example, you can guide the branches towards the right and cover the fence.  Do the branches have curly tendrils? That might be a characteristic of either wisteria or a grape vine.

Wisteria has purple flowers, forsythia has yellow flowers.  Wisteria is a vine and forsythia a bush.  That looks like a forsythia plant that never got any prunning or care.  I agree that you need to cut it to shrub size and fertilize it; they are nice bushes in spring.  The root system is probably healthy, and it will grow fast into a nice bush.

Can't tell - need leaves.

Wisteria will grow back even if you cut it down near the ground.  But that vine does not look like wisteria.

https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/wifl1.htm

https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/wisi1.htm

Included in these references is how to eradicate it.

Millburn DPW has been working for years to control it,  at the edge of Old SH Park, with only limited success.

the yellow one is indeed a forsythia, i was referring to the creeping vine to the right of it. I will let it grow leaves to see what it turns into, if it is a wysteria i would love to keep it and encourage it to fill in that ugly chain link fence. It looks like my neighbor has cut it near the top multiple times..

Wisteria twines. If it doesn't twist around everything, it's not wisteria. That is too straight.

But that doesn't answer the question of whether or not it's a weed. I guess a weed is something you don't want in your garden. That seems to have some old wood, and has been pruned at the top (by your neighbor?) Maybe someone wanted it in the garden. 

I'd give it a season to see what it does before calling it and treating it like a "weed." There are many nice climbing vines that are not wisteria. I'd hesitate to cut one back that is that established without being sure.

What it's also not: any type of clematis, climbing hydrangea, ivy - English or otherwise, or climbing rose. It kind of reminds me of the native vines around the Delaware river in the Catskills, which means: it may be a "weed," but it may also be "hearty." Which means you'll never kill it and should try to make peace with it by pruning it once you understand it.

Perhaps that's what the previous owners and your neighbor have done. I don't imagine its "invasive" since there is just the one and the fence isn't overwhelmed with volunteers and shooters.

Please post pictures of its leaves and flowers this season. I'd love to be educated.

you know, it looks a little like our old (very old) grapevine that was grown for its leaves. It didn't bear fruit, and yes it did trail and twine into nearly everything else but the previous owners (who'd planted it) had tried to confine it to a single pole.

It looks like your plant may have had a weeping habit from a ring atop that pole, and the ring has been removed. 

@Sweetsunggles I dont recall it having berries last year.. but I could be wrong -- I'm going to go out and take a couple of better photos with closeups in a little bit and post them up. For now I will leave it alone since it doesn't bother me and I want that fence covered as much as possible

Could it be honeysuckle?  We had some ancient and abundant honeysuckle vines on a similar fence in our old house.  If this is the case, you'll know soon.  

here are a couple more pics, these are the tentacles 

and here is the trunk close-up

quercus said:

Looks like a wild grape vine.

This. Not wisteria. A nuisance plant. Cut it down.

"Tentacles" on a plant are called tendrils   

Wild grape vine

jimmurphy said:

quercus said:

Looks like a wild grape vine.

This. Not wisteria. A nuisance plant. Cut it down.

+1