Wisteria

One evening last August my parents were over having ice cream with us. My dad said, "You ought to trim your wisteria or it will start to pull the shingles off the side of your house."

"My wisteria?" I said. "I have wisteria? Where is that?" I had been living in this house for five years and was still developing the gardens. I have always loved wisteria and I thought one day I would have a railing put around the porch with a high trellis across the side nearest the neighbors. I wanted to grow a vine covered with beautiful purple flowers to shade that side of the porch and create a privacy screen. I didn't think I had the wisteria yet though.

"On the side of the porch" My dad said. "It's climbing up the side of the house and sending shoots under the porch. It will tear the porch apart if you don't train it right." He walked me out to the front porch and showed me where it was growing.

"That is wisteria?" I said. "I thought it was a weed. I tried to pull it out but it was too stubborn. I chopped it back over and over but it keeps coming back."

"Ayah." He said. "That's wisteria."

"I never saw any purple flowers on it."

"That's because you keep cutting it back before it gets a chance to flower. Get a trellis and train it."

My parents have a really lovely wisteria in their backyard. It is trained to grow up an old clothesline post that is shaped like a T. They used to have a clothesline coming from the post too, but the wisteria took over and they had to cut the ropes out. Now it is about six feet high and twisted all around the post like a huge python. The green branches wrap around and around. In spring the clusters of purple flowers hang down like some exotic jungle orchids. I always wanted a vine like that growing where I could admire it. Who knew I had one right by my porch!

I looked into having a railing and trellis built onto the edge of my porch but the cost was beyond me last summer and fall. This spring I decided to just go to the garden center and buy the biggest, sturdiest trellis I could fit in my car and get Buster to help me set it up beside the wisteria. It's about 7' high from the ground and cast iron. Next to the porch it appears only about three and a half feet high, which isn't really big enough. The day after Buster put it in the ground the wisteria had it's greedy green fingers wrapped all around it. I guess it will outgrow my trellis in one season. I will just have to keep pruning it and keep an eagle eye on the wandering branches seeking the side of the house or the roof beams. The other day I noticed some wisteria-looking leaves creeping out from under the opposite side of the porch. Maybe it's a monster! I don't know if it gets enough sunlight but I hope I'll get some fat juicy purple bunches of flowers hanging right down the middle of the trellis next spring.



It just goes to show you; you never know what loveliness is growing next to you, waiting to be noticed and encouraged to grow in the right direction.

I'm doing my Sunday Garden Stroll again in the Mr. Linky below. If you have a garden post up in the past week or so I do hope you will join in by adding your link. If you know of other bloggers that are interested in gardens please invite them to join in too! You can copy my button and paste it on your site to link back here if you like. What's growing wild in your yard?