Wisteria. That is the common name and also the genus name for this plant. This particular wisteria is what I would describe as a picture of civility, a phrase my neighbor, who lives in the house next to this plant used yesterday in describing my trellis work in my own garden.
But the Wisteria tends to be a wide ranging, fast growing, very virile vine that will grow up the side of a house, a barn, trees, other structures. Some of the stems can get quite thick. They're quite adept at working their way into crevices in between the gutter and the house, pulling the gutter off eventually.
It's not a plant to be idly planting. You have to have a plan for the plant as it grows. This time of year is the mysterious time of year when it's in bloom. This thing is in full bloom and it's lovely.
It's fragrant. The color is a knockout. It's just a fantastic display this time of year. During the rest of the year, not so much. It's a member of the pea family, Fabasi, so it doesn't have much of a fall color.
A little bit. Some of the species there are about eight species in the genus Wisteria. One of them is an American native fruitscens that is a little less obnoxious, little less vigorous, so you might look for the American native if you're going to plant near the house.
The flowers are blue to purple in clusters of about ten to twelve. US with many small flowers along that central stem. And again, they're very pea like in their appearance. Plant your wisteria in full sun.
It's very sun loving and it's well sighted here in average to good garden soil. It's very, very forgiving, for soils. It will live in sandy soil, clay soil, rocky soil. The other thing you want to as it grows, it is a good idea to prune heavily.
Some people prune it into more or less a tree form away from the house, keeping those tendrils cut back and keeping the growth down where we can appreciate it at nose level, basically, because this plant, if allowed, will grow up the side of the house and all the flowers will be up at the top.
And it's a nice display, but it's much, much more effective when it's down here at face level. You may have to, in the spring, find the tendril, cut them back, pull them out and then again sometime in August or in the fall, revisit that issue because it's a very rampant grower but so worth the effort at this time of year.
Wisteria.
0 Comments