Witchy Wisteria

We just received an e-mail from a Horticulture reader about wisteria—another plant that will win you over with its beauty but may take over your life if you plant it. When I was at Long Hill the other day (see my May 8 post) my fellow tour-takers were very impressed by the wisteria climbing the rear of the house. It wasn't in leaf or bloom yet, but we all sighed imagining how pretty it must look later in the season. Our guide, the gardens' superintendent Dan Bouchard, agreed it is pretty but explained the lengths to which he must go to keep the vine from swallowing the house. My mother had the same experience with a wisteria at her father's house; it didn't seem so beautiful when she was hanging out the upstairs window trying to prune it, or when it ran under the sidewalk and attempted to scale a telephone pole.

Here's the message Jim Lewis, of Columbus, North Carolina, sent, along with a great picture of how he now grows wisteria:

"Wisteria is indeed one of the most beautiful vines and flowers imaginable. But down here in the south, it also is one of the most invasive of plants. I doubt you could find an extension agent south of the Mason-Dixon line who would recommend either Wisteria sinensis (the Chinese wisteria) or W. floribunda (Japanese wisteria) as a garden vine. It has taken over, twining high into trees where it is beautiful, but where it shades out other—perhaps native—species. It's not kudzu, but it's not nice, either.

"Wisteria can be grown, however. In pots. I grow mine in bonsai pots. And once I get them to bloom, I carefully cut away any seeds that form afterward and destroy them. It takes several years to get a wisteria bonsai to bloom, but once it does, the wait is worth it. I have attached a photograph of mine this spring."

Thanks for writing to us, Jim. Readers, to share your thoughts just click "Comments."

5/18/2007 10:22:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

Forget-Them-After-All?

I'm rethinking my forget-me-not seedlings after a comment left on my May 2 posting. (You might note I was hoping to plant them out that weekend...still hasn't happened.)

Doris noted that she's been pulling forget-me-nots ever since she planted some, because "they take over." I have a space it might be okay for them to take over—as long as I can keep them in that one area, which I'll have to think about before I plant them.

In the meantime, here's a plant I wish I hadn't planted last year: Canadian anenome (Anenome canadensis). It had pretty whitish flowers from spring into early summer, and the foliage looked good all summer. But this spring it has proven to be a vigorous spreader (a phrase some translate as invasive plant). I have removed it entirely from one section of my garden. I'm leaving it in another corner, which I sectioned off with brick edging. Any of it that shows up outside the bricks is getting pulled.

I'm looking into other anenomes that might not be so vigorous. There was a very pretty blue-flowered one at Long Hill. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with this particular species? Should I just pull it out altogether? Anything you wish you'd never planted? Leave a comment if you wish!

5/16/2007 4:17:45 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2] 

A Field Trip in the City

“New England Grows,” an annual green industry trade show, took place this week in Boston. Landscapers, garden designers, nursery owners, arborists, groundskeepers, teachers, and other garden professionals come to this event to see the plants and equipment that will help them do their best work in the coming year. The show includes a series of lectures and demonstrations, too.

Liz and I had a chance to visit the show yesterday. It was a cold, windy walk from our office to the Convention Center, marked by a few wrong turns. But the sight I saw when we finally got there warmed me right up. (With help from the hot chocolate we managed to hunt down.) The front lobby looks down on the main exhibition floor, which, being covered with garden supply exhibits looked much like spring.

Besides admiring the exhibits of plants, pots, and tools, we sat in on a pest-management lecture given by Leanne Pundt of the University of Connecticut. The talk was geared toward industry people (naturally, that being the audience), who are trying to fight pests and diseases on a large scale. But I did pick up some tips to use in my own garden:

1. Learn the cultural requirements of my plants and meet them as best I can. Healthy plants are more able to fight pests and diseases.

2. “Scout” my garden regularly. Look for symptoms on plants, the pests themselves, and the activity of pests’ natural enemies. Inspect new plants as I get them.

3. Choose native plants, which are more likely to attract beneficial insects and the pests’ natural enemies.

From the slides I recognized that last summer some of my columbines (Aquilegia) had columbine leafminers. The columbines were some of my favorites of what I planted last spring. I have Aquilegia canadensis ‘Little Lanterns’, A. alpine ‘Alpine Blue’, and A. vulgaris plena ‘Rose Barlow’. I will follow Leanne’s advice to be sure to choose native columbines. (Of the three that I have so far, only A. canadensis is native, and I do think it was not affected by the miners, though I’m just going by memory. I have to keep better notes!)

Read Sara Begg's blog

2/9/2007 11:33:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]