Wisteria

Wisteria is one of the most popular vines to grow in the South, especially Louisiana. Most everyone has a wisteria vine in their yard, but some underestimate the size a wisteria vine can grow! I've seen mature wisteria vines that cover an entire oak tree. If you're thinking about planting one, give it lots of space!

The wisteria pictured in this blog post belongs to my neighbor. The vine covers her entire chain link fence, I'd estimate the fence to be around 30 feet long. In some spots the vine is so big that it draps down to the ground!

Wisteria grows well in most any spot. They can take full sun or some light shade. No need to fertilize because wisteria takes off growing as soon as it is planted.

Wisteria is infamously know as an aggresive grower, but there are plenty of good things about wisteria. If you look closly in the above picture, you'll see a bee buzzing around the flower. Bees love wisteria. When I was taking pictures of the flowers, there were so many bees buzzing around me that I couldn't count them.

I love the smell of wisteria! Its a lovely light scent that reminds me of summer. The flowers are around 6 inches long and are a beautiful shade of purple. Wisteria blooms in early spring, but doesn't have a long bloom period. They bloom for about 2 weeks and as I'm writing this post, my neighbor's wisteria has already stopped blooming.

I found a bird's nest tucked away inside the wisteria, but I didn't see any eggs in the nest.