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| 07 May 2013 © smck |
Several decades ago I saw my neighbor's Wisteria blooming in incredible display in the spring. So I gathered a few seed pods from his yard at the time and when I bought my old decrepit house in the country I planted about 6 to 8 seeds at the back where an old clearing had been overgrown with various scrub-type trees. The Wisteria sprouted growing a foot or so in height the first year and then continued to stay about that size for the next three to four years. This prompted me to transplant them to more sunny areas which triggered an astounding burst of growth. I little realized that I had unleashed an invasive monster that has by now overwhelmed their supportive tree hosts, breaking tops and limbs with their weight and ever lengthening vines as well as sending amazingly long ground vines in various directions which then climb any new tree with which they come in contact . This Wisteria is incredibly beautiful - but I find that it is an annual battle of new growths versus me trying to save the existing trees - one young nut bearing walnut tree has already been broken off at the top.
This might be the last year for this lovely view.
Gorgeous tree!!!! Lovely colors!!!! When you say house in the country, do you mean NS .... if so, I would love to have a few of those seeds before it sees it's demise!!
ReplyDeleteooooooops!! guess i should have done my homework on this tree before looking to plant some seeds!! Apparantly it is toxic to dog/cat/horse....... so this means "no wisterias" for this farm... It is a beautiful plant though!!
DeleteShamik - sorry I didn't reply sooner to your comments - (working on rebuilding the 80 year old locking mechanism on our front door, still not quite finished even though I resolved the not working problem) - photos are of our yard here in Maryland - we've never had a problem with our dogs or cat(s) from the Wisteria but it sure is an invasive vine - I swear that it grows the ground vines that I mentioned at about the rate of 3 or 4 feet a day - evidently there are species of it that are more controllable - and even this one seems to be containable if pruned regularly every week or so in an open area - the rampant growth seems to occur once it has climbed high into a tree - before that it is almost a normal plant. We're fairly well planned out on our summer me - me up alone first about mid-July to get things straightened away with opening the house and cutting grass - then Carol and Calum and Claire in August for two weeks - then Carol back up in September for a week so she can travel home with me. See you guys then. Steve
ReplyDeleteWow.. that's a fast growing vine too!! Good to see you are staying busy and will be spending some time in a place you love to be!! Take Care! The chickens will have a fresh dozen eggs for you when you arrive!! See you then!
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