Chinese wisteria
Wisteria Sinensis
Flowering plantsClimbing and trailingBalcony plantsGarden plants
Description
Chinese wisteria is an ornamental climber of the legume family. It grows wild in central China and is cultivated in many countries around the world.
A vigorous flowering climber whose shoots twine anticlockwise. It can reach more than 10–18 m in height, growing 1–3 m a year. The leaves are entire-edged, odd-pinnate with 7–13 leaflets, alternate and oblong-ovate.
It flowers from May to June. The pea-like flowers, with a large reflexed standard petal with two appendages at the base, hang in blue-violet racemes up to 30 cm long. The racemes grow at the ends of short side shoots or this year's long shoots.
The fruits are flattened, hairy pods 10–15 cm long, usually with a few seeds, which hang closed on the branches until spring.
Requirements
It needs winter protection, as it is not fully frost-hardy.
Propagation
It is propagated by repeated layering or by rooting one-year-old shoots, which are then cut into cuttings. Free-flowering varieties are also grafted onto pieces of root.
Care
Wisteria needs fresh, sandy, moist soil that is not acidic, and feeding with manure and phosphorus fertilisers.