A friend of mine who has his first tiny flock of chickens heard a great ruckus outside the other day. He ran out of the house and saw two of his chickens fighting each other. Odd. Then he realized one of the chickens was a hawk! He screamed. The hawk flew off. The chicken ran into the hen house and promptly laid an egg. When I told my husband he said clearly the chicken’s response to the threat was that life is short – reproduce!
That reminded the two of us of our wisteria which bloomed in an extraordinary fashion in June of 2006. In fact it was the first time it bloomed ince it was planted in 1991. It grew very slowly, probably due at least in part to my ineptitude. Somehow I had gotten it into my head that wisteria liked a lean soil. They don’t. Anyway, the wisteria limped along and finally Henry said if it didn’t reach the top of the pergola he and my son had built by 2000 he was going rip it out.
In the spring of 2000 it reached the top of the pergola and began spreading lushly. It provided the desired shade and even changed the quality of light in the living room on the other side of those big windows. Delicious. The shade was so welcome, and the light so lovely that I didn’t even mind much that we only got a sporadic bloom.
Then in 2006 we got this extraordinary show. We invited everyone over to look. We felt like we were living in a Chinese painting. We took pictures. We were in heaven.
Spring of 2007 arrived and the wisteria was nearly dead. We could not help wondering if the wisteria knew of the threat that was soon to appear. Life is short – reproduce!
I saw wisteria for the first time this past spring. It normally doesn’t grow here, but the featured school garden on a garden tour circuit had one. It was very protected on an east wall, surrounded by trees. They were very proud that they were able to grow it here. It is a gorgeous plant!
Aiyana
People are always surprised to see our wisteria, thinking it too tender for our cold location. However, once it got started it has proved very hardy. I am always having to prune out suckers that come up from the roots. We love the shade it provides in front of the house and in bloom, it is a magnificent sight.