Ok, now I have Wisteria envy. The world's longest wisteria has been estimated to extend 252ft across a wall and taken 14 years to get it that way.
HOWEVER the owner has not seen it bloom in its totality until this year. Normally, only about 10% of the blooms survive the late spring frosts.
"Mrs Wilson, 56, started tending the wisteria in 1993, to replace the ivy that she and her husband had found growing on the wall when they moved into Wickham Place Farm near Witham, Essex.‘There was a very neglected wisteria growing on the other side of the wall,’ she said. ‘I began pruning it and training it to grow on this side of the wall. I didn’t know what I was doing, I just read from books what to do. Year on year it got bigger and bigger. It grew ten feet a year in each direction before reaching both ends of the wall six years ago."
You know, if having this late a spring means we get a nice summer and autumn and get to see these great plants in bloom like this, I'm happy to put up with the poor weather.
And before I forget, I'll share this tip with you about wisteria growing that I only found out yesterday (amazing how I'm still finding out these things about 5 years). Apparently, wisteria have to be throughly watered between July and September to set flower buds - a lack of water between these times and nothing will happen.
I wonder if all the rain last year was a key factor in mine flowering this year?
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