Climber with tight purple flowers

Afternoon everyone

I'm just about to start pruning a few things but there's a plant in our garden that we have no idea what it is. I'm afraid I can't find the photo I took last year either, but I've attached some pics of what it looks like now. [EDIT: pls ignore these pics, I took them of the wrong thing but can't delete them from the post (good spot pete!!). The unidentified plant has no leaves on it yet]

It's a climber with woody stems and small leaves. The flowers were sort of tight purple blobs, like a plum cherry tomato in shape, about an inch in length, which eventually opened a little bit so that one blob gave the impression of being a number of tiny flowers all grouped together. It was never very 'petal-ish'. It's deciduous and flowered in spring (I think...)

The flowers were the colour of wisteria (but it's not that.) It's not a clematis and I don't think it's a honeysuckle or passion flower either.

The people who lived here before us weren't very into gardening so I don't think it could be something really rare or special (?), but I can't spot it in any online shops.

At a total loss... any thoughts would be really appreciated!

Thanks

 

Well its the most Clematis lookalike I've ever seen.:D

 

Sorry I'm a complete fool. The pics ARE of a clematis, I took pics of the wrong thing. (I'll try to remove them from the post...!)

The one that I can't identify doesn't have any leaves yet! It's just twisty hardwood with nothing on it.

 

OK no problems

 

Could be Akebia quinata (Chocolate Vine or Five-leaf Akebia)

Dave

 

Oh, lucky you if it is Akebia ... I never could get mine going ...

 

I have one if it is still alive after our cold spell , thought it had passed away last year but it did start growing again late in the season ..Must look tomorrow
Dave

 

That's a lovely plant, but afraid it's not this one (although weirdly it does fit the description perfectly!)

I think after a lot of googling it might be Wisteria frutescens, despite me saying it wasn't a wisteria. The flowers were really tight for ages and never 'dangled' like I thought wisteria flowers would have done, but some pics of Wisteria frutescens just budding on google do look really familiar. Maybe it just never flowered properly? Perhaps because it's overgrown?

I'll share some pics when it starts growing again this year. Does anyone know anything about pruning this sort of wisteria, when it's got all woody and tangled around trellis?

Thanks!
Heather

 

Wisteria is usually pruned twice a year - I do mine in late July/August, taking all the wispy bits off and pruning back to within 6 nodes of the main stem. This allows the plant to put its efforts into producing buds rather than long wispy bits. Then again in late Jan/Feb, taking it back to within two nodes of the main stem.

 

waiting for the weather... PLEASE wait until you have got an id.
Pic would really help when ever you get leaves/ and or flowers.