The Flowering Vine

Right now, all around my town you look in the trees and see these beautiful purple flowers just dripping from the limbs of those trees.  I have people question me all the time, "What are those beautiful purple flowers?". 

These vines are called Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) or the Chinese Wisteria.  Their beauty hind their cruel truth.  They are an invasive vine in the Eastern US.  Their twisting vines produce beautiful purple racme blooms before their leaves apear each spring.  It's these counter-clockwise-twisting vines that can choke our native trees.

Gardeners love the abundance of blooms as well as their ability to trained easily.  But they must be kept under check.  If you grow Chinese Wisteria, you must be vigilant!  This vine spreads quickly and can smoother out mature trees when not kept in check.  It is considered an invasive species in the US.

They are able to grow in poor soil but pefer well drained soil.  Chinese Wisteria can grow in shade but pefers sun.  It puts out its blooms just before the leaves mature.

I would love to have Wisteria in my yard, but it is too scarey for me to grow.  Wisteria will live for more than 100 years.  If I did grow it, I'm afraid it would take over my yard after I am gone.  So I'm just going to admire my neighbors Wisteria and be thankful it hasn't made it to my woods yet!

Let's get playing in the dirt!