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Imagine yourself in a cool, quiet place. The light is gentle and the ground below you is soft and grassy. Your secluded little clearing is enclosed by curtains of a most glorious purple, tinged by light hints of pink. The curtain, made of uncountable long vines of beautiful blooms, sways slightly in a gentle drifting breeze, scattering millions of little petals around your feet. A subtle, sweet aroma fills the air and in the center of it all is a huge, gnarled, twisted trunk stretching up, and up, and disappearing into the roof of purple blooms above.
That’s
how I imagine it must be to stand beneath the 144 year old Wisteria in Ashikaga
Flower Park in Japan.
Technically,
it’s not a tree, even though it that gnarled trunk gives it all the appearance
of one. It’s a climbing shrub or a vine. That’s why it grows to be so huge. The
one in Ashikaga Flower Park is said to protrude out for about half a mile!
Those are some long branches. They’ve been propped up on a large iron frame to
keep them in shape while giving them room to grow. It also prevents the plant
from collapsing completely under the weight of all those branches. That’s why
they create a kind of purple tent. The result is a beautiful and amazing sight,
and a rare and special opportunity to see this gorgeous plant, something not
everyone gets a chance to lay their eyes on.
But,
even if you can’t get all the way to Japan, all is not necessarily lost.
Over in
Sierra Madre in California, there is another Wisteria that holds a spot in the
record books as the world’s largest blooming plant. It was purchased for less
than a dollar in the 1890s as a porch decoration and was toted home in a little
old pot. By the 1920s, the owners had to move as the wisteria had kind of taken
over the house and needed it for a propping frame. By the 1930s, the house was
done-for.
Eventually,
the impressive plant grew to be over an acre around, and weighed in at over 250
tons! What a hugely impressive little plant!
But
more than the size, the most impressive characteristic of this fauna is, of
course, it’s sheer and unmatchable and, almost, unimaginable beauty.
Back in
Japan, in the Kawachi Fujien
Gardens, the vines have been given an iron frame that arches over a wandering
path. When they’re in full bloom in the spring, you can stroll through a tunnel
of purple, pink and white blossoms, or sit on a bench and just relax and take
it all in. Sigh!
Here’s some more about Wisteria:
·
They
are related to the common pea, that little round green veggie we all love so
much (especially fresh from Gramma’s garden)
·
Some
species of wisteria make a very nice wine. But be careful because others are
quite poisonous.
·
Some
people actually consider these beautiful plants to be little more than
intrusive weeds. And given that story about the house, it’s kind of easy to see
why they could make some people antsy. The key is regular, careful and educated
pruning.
·
The
vines can grow up to 10 feet in a year!
·
Wisteria
seeds grow in colorful little pea-like pods. Come a hot summer day, and these
little pods will burst like tiny balloons and sprinkle the seeds
every-which-way!
Wouldn’t I love to be able to visit this wondrous plant, someday! Or
perhaps see one a little bit closer to home?
Meanwhile, I can close my eyes and daydream.
Photo by 3268zauber
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