Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Friday, April 25, 2008
Too Much Wisteria?
Looking at these photos, it's easy to understand how the anti-invasive plant folks can get worked up about Wisteria, but you have to admit that it's eye-catching.
This is blooming along I-64 near Charlottesville. I don't know which species this is and I'm not inclined to scramble over the guardrail to find out. I was hoping it might be domestic (and therefore OK), but apparently that one flowers later in the spring.
Labels: wisteria
11 Comments:
I have a white version that I have tried unsuccessfully to remove. It is impossible to eradicate completely. It smells pleasant but oh what it does to the trees.
Gail
clay and limestone
It is pretty but that does look like a monster! It is funny that it is blooming so profusely when many people have trouble getting their wisteria to flower. That is probably one of the top ten hort questions. "How do I get my wisteria to flower"? A bit ironic.
I love wisteria and so it is hard for me to imagine that it can be invasive. (just as squirrels look cute when they aren't eating one's garden ... wisteria is gorgeous looking at it from afar!)
(I think 'In Defense of Food' is a much better read than 'Omnivore's Dilemma' (I found OD tedious - interesting in the early stages and at the end. After reading much of the corn section, I skimmed through the later corn parts to reach the end.)
Gail: It's a shame that such a beautiful plant causes such big problems. There was a large wisteria in a park near us that was cut down a couple of years ago. I noticed some resprouting then, but haven't been back to see what's happened to it.
Layanee: I wonder if that's a regional thing? I didn't know anything at all about wisteria when I lived in the midwest, and here in Virginia it's a weed. There must be someplace in between where it's a better-behaved garden plant (for a very sturdy trellis)?
Kate: I have mixed emotions about wisteria (and squirrels too, come to think of it). I love to see it blooming, but can't ignore the invasive tendency.
I think I'll read the part of Omnivore's Dilemma about Polyface Farm and skip the rest.
I was admiring them as well in the Fredericksburg area last couple weeks. They look great! I have heard before how invasive they can be and kept distance from them, even though every plant catalogue praises them.
I'd never seen Wisteria growing wild, and would never have thought of it as invasive. have to say that it does look as if it's taking over. But it's such a beautiful plant. It's been on my wish list for years -if I had the space I wouldn't be without it.
Unfortunately it looks like Chinese wisteria. The early bloom time is about right too.
In a half sleep I heard a program on Diana Beresford-Kroeger on NPRs Living on Earth (it comes on here at 6:00 am on Sat.) The bits and snatches I got about rescuing seeds and nut trees? during a Canadian freezing rain storm was intriguing and interesting enough that I bought (ordered) her book. A quote from Midwest Book Review on the Amazon site: "...Diana Beresford-Kroeger celebrates a diversity of trees and plants including how they can counteract the effects of pollution and global warming; which native plants complement the "bioplan"; how to plan them with ideas and tips; the medicinal uses trees and plants have had from the inception of aboriginal cultures down to the modern day, and so much more." Now where was I going with this... is in keeping with your thoughts about invasives.
Our library has the book but someone has checked it out for the next 3 weeks. I usually don't buy books but I makes some exceptions. Amazon had her book in the used and new section for about $60. I tried Alibris and was able to find a like new copy for $17. Will give you an short synopsis when I get and read the book if you're interested. You can find the LOE program using this link.
Bek: I suppose wisteria is one of those things best admired from afar. It's a good thing that I didn't have a place to put one when I first moved here or I probably would have planted it.
Sue: I remember reading once about a conversation between two gardeners over a huge wisteria. "I thought I could control it...", she said. I just hope we can continue to admire them along the roadsides here.
Ki: I think I may have seen the native wisteria blooming this weekend along an interstate ramp near Richmond. I didn't get a real good look, but it was leafed out and had much smaller and fewer flowers. Richmond looks like summertime already.
I just started reading Noah's Garden by Sara Stein, and I wonder if it's similar to the Diana Beresford-Kroeger book? I'd love to hear your thoughts when you've read the book - maybe we could compare notes on the two. I'll check out the radio program this afternoon when I'm doing my drone work.
I took photos of a similar roadside sight last spring, Entangled - it was beautiful in the degraded no-man's land left by highway construction but nothing you'd want near homes and gardens.
Wisteria is pretty hardy - I remember seeing wooded lots completely covered with it back in the Chicago suburbs.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I too didn't realize wisteria was invasive. In that massing, it looks like a giant purple waterfall.
Annie: I remember that picture from last year - wisteria seems very happy growing next to roads. I didn't realize that it would grow in N. IL, but now that I think about it, there weren't many vines/climbers of any kind in gardens I knew back then. I wonder why.
Jim: That analogy is very apt. The waterfall dries up pretty quickly though - we drove past there a few days ago and the flowers were already starting to fade.
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