Wisteria Is Back in Favor for the Patio

The wisteria is one of those plants that our grandparents planted and loved. As the pace of life sped up, we chose not to plant wisteria because we didn’t like having to clean up all those blossoms falling on the ground from this prolific vine.

Once again though, the wisteria is accepted as a very graceful, wonderful plant. Those blossoms are no longer “just a mess,” but a truly beautiful mass of flowers with a fragrance that is just right. The shade it provides, and the attraction it has to birds, butterflies and other touches of nature more than compensate for any clean-up.

While the wisteria is a natural for the classic Spanish architecture, it can look just as well with any structure that has a patio. It can be used with an arbor or, it can cover the shed in the back to conceal an undesirable view. Just think, you can cover anything with blue, lavender, pink or white flowers and have it the best looking spot in the yard.

Every year it seems one or more magazines run a picture of the biggest wisteria you can imagine. It’s according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest flowering plant in the world. The Guinness record-holding plant was planted as a one-gallon plant back in 1894 in a Sierra Madre back yard. The wisteria is still in that back yard, and the branches run over 500 feet, covering nearly an acre. Can you imagine a plant that has over a million and a half blossoms at one time?

It’s a lovely time to set out a wisteria now; they like the heat and can thrive very well. Although they probably will not flower the first couple of years, you certainly would be a lot better off with a plant larger than a gallon. If you have qualms about yours getting that big, it does like pruning and handles very well.