by Elizabeth Shaheen
Yes, you can grow wisteria in your Bahrain gardens. I did. I know that that is a past tense, but I purchased a pink blooming wisteria from the Bahrain International Garden Show last year. It was absolutely fine during the summer months and when it went into expected dormancy in the winter.
In spring, it put out a new shoot and I proudly showed it off to a friend – who shall remain nameless – and the very next day her evil-eye caused it to wane and eventually die.
This summer, I will buy another from England and when my “anonymous” friend next visits, I shall request that she removes her evil-eye and puts in an angel’s eye. The same “friend” did the same thing to my red honeysuckle!
Wisteria is among the most beautiful of climbers for the garden and it can fashion some sincerely astonishing effects. It is also available in a range of selections and proves multitalented in the manner it can be used.
It is, indeed, together with roses and honeysuckle, the quintessential character of an English country cottage.
With graceful, ever-fresh-spring-summer, jade-green, somewhat feathery foliage and wonderful dripping sprays of pea-like flowers in early summer, many releasing an enthralling scent, wisteria must possess a powerful assertion to being the most sought-after of all climbers.
In their play as climbers cloaking pergolas, they are unrivalled, allowing their grape-like panicles to dangle clear of the foliage.
In this fashion, it is one of the most-revered modes of growing wisteria in oriental gardens, which Chinese and Japanese gardeners have employed for many centuries.
Nevertheless, a plant this superior, with so numerous year-round qualities, can be employed in various manners, from free-standing specimens to scrambling over where ever you choose.
They are hitherto renowned as classic candidates for bonsai, which is indeed not my favourite method of growing any plant – it seems so utterly cruel!
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese wisteria) is the one that is most commonly seen swathing an ancient English home, which – if you obtain the species – is habitually cultivated from seed.
For this reason, there is significant disparity in flower excellence, and the plants are, by and large, unhurried to realise their regular flowering potential than grafted plants. There is great disparity between the specimens. Therefore, it is advisable to purchase only selected named clones, which will promise excellence.
When studying grafted plants, endeavour to select one absent of hideous bunions at the graft union, and pass by plants where the stump of the cut-off rootstock is left standing above the position of union, for this promises to die-back and may possibly beget other dilemmas.
The Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) is a most sophisticated species, having bonus leaflets in its foliage, and frequently longer inflorescence with somewhat smaller individual flowers.
It also is inclined to be less energetic in its growth. In addition, the clear-yellow, autumn hues that the leaves take on before they defoliate, is a peculiarity absent in the Chinese wisteria.
To be able to distinguish one from the other, when scrutinised from above, Wisteria sinensis twines clockwise where conversely, Wisteria floribunda twines anti-clockwise.
There is an abundance of cultivars of Wisteria Floribunda from which to choose, ranging in shades from crystal-white through hues to the more typical lilac-blues, and candyfloss-pink.
North American Wisteria macrostachya is less well-dressed in foliage and presents petite sprays of frequently blue-mauve blossom in late summer.
Clara Mack” is soapy-white with generous sized flowers in elongated sprays.
A more graceful form is Wisteria frutescens and one to look out for is “Amethyst Falls” – what a cascade of loveliness it is.
There are choice hybrids equally among Japanese and Chinese wisterias. They are spirited, frequently with coarser leaves, and there is uncertainty over naming.
Therefore, the best approach is to purchase one already in bloom and, as a general rule-of-thumb, if the leaflets are broad and comparatively large, the cultivar is liable to be spirited.
Standard or half-standard wisterias are simply gorgeous and can be grown in large containers. Wherever space is lacking, this is a valuable way of growing them.
Visualise a woodland scene of wisteria. You can achieve this by mass planting using a variety of species and their hybrids.
Permitting any wisteria to snake its way up a tree, is a means that demands ample space and – if truth be told – is seldom a success story.
The bloom is all too frequently veiled by copious foliage, which inevitably will overwhelm the host’s own leaves and cause the entire creation to become top-heavy.
Pruning is also almost impossible once the wisteria has hiked its way through a tree. Nevertheless, exceptional models are at times stumbled upon. If however you want to give it a go, then plump for a strong tree, isolated from neighbouring trees and buildings.
Prune wisteria once the leaves have fallen, and permit lateral growth without too much addition to height, taking off shoots ascending vertically and reducing laterals so they do not leap upwards following pruning and remove any unwanted shoots off the main trunk.
When you have achieved the height you seek, then customary spur-pruning is all that is required.
Wisterias are not finicky about soil, providing it is fertile. They demand sun to flower and welcome an annual mulching of well-rotted farmyard manure in their youth, but in time, their roots will travel afar in order to find nourishment.
Wisterias do not protest when grown together with other verticals, such as roses and honeysuckle and the look can be simply – breathtaking.
These alluring plants are astonishingly adaptable, so why not bring one or two or some back with you – bare-rooted – from your summer holidays.
GDN – 22 July, ’07