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wisteria
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Posted by andrew_london UK zone 8/9? (My Page) on Sun, Jan 7, 07 at 21:32
| I have just removed a vine that was growing up the wall of some garages on the edge of our garden. It neither coloured nor fruited, so seemed a bit pointless. I am thinking of replacing it with a wisteria (which would fit the colour scheme of the bed - limited to red, blue, purple and white - and we have quite enough white already). But which one? Chinese or Japanese? I have read so many contradictory things about wisterias - the Chinese is more fragrant; the Japanese is more fragrant; they won't flower if the soil is too rich; they won't flower if the soil isn't rich enough; etc. etc.
For me, a wisteria has to be the classic purple/blue colour and it has to be fragrant. I have seen it suggested that I should wait until May and then buy a plant in flower so that I can be sure that it is ready to flower (and is the right colour - and indeed is fragrant. At our last house we spent five years getting a wisteria to flower only to find that it had no fragrance at all. Unfortunately I can't remember whether it was Chinese or Japanese. I bought it from a reputable garden centre - Clifton Nurseries in west London - so I have no idea why it lacked fragrance.)
Any suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: wisteria
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| I think scent depends on the cultivar, and probably on your growing conditions too. W. floribunda has longer flower racemes, is a little less vigorous, and tends to flower after the foliage appears while W. sinensis flowers against nearly bare stems. Other than that I think it is all down to choosing a cultivar that you like. Something I didn't know until recently is that Wisterias fix nitrogen. This should have been obvious, they are legumes and the leaves give it away. This may affect your choice of fertiliser since they have no need for added nitrogen. |
RE: wisteria
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| I believe that - although maybe not to the same extent as clematis - they like their feet in the shade but their head in the sun. That is what the wisteria had at our old house, so I remain at a loss to understand why it had no fragrance. I pruned it religiously, and it flowered beautifully, but ... |
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