I had my head inside a wisteria today, trying to help find the source of the whipping vines creeping into the neighbour’s space. It was quite a task, and took a large chunk of the morning to find the site of each fifth bud to make the summer prune as directed by the Royal Horticultural Society.

The wisteria was not mine, but it left me wondering about the origins of this overwhelming plant. Beautifully controlled ones look amazing when they’re in flower but getting them to that state takes the skill of extreme gardeners – the marathon runners of the gardening world.

So, here are a few points that might make you pause if you’re thinking of picking up a pot of this purple beauty in its tiny days.

• Wisteria is poisonous (only if you eat it).
• There are Japanese, Chinese and American varieties.
• All of them have the ability to spread their vines out far and wide.
• The vines will climb trees and strangle them, if left unpruned.
• The flowers are fagrant and can be purple, pink, blue or white.
• The plants have long, hanging seed pods which, when dry, pop open spreading their seeds away from the parent plant.
• Wisteria should be pruned twice a year – once in late summer, and again in late winter.
• The plants grow with such vigour you can almost see them spreading.
• The flowers are fagrant and can be purple, pink, blue or white. They look dramatic, hanging down in long clusters.
• Not all of them flower.
• Wisteria can last for decades, the main vine becoming as a thick as a small tree trunk … with exhausted gardeners littered around its base

If you’re looking for a challenge – a ‘real plant’ to garden – this might be it.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023