A Purple Delight

Do you have a wisteria? If not, you should really try to find a place in your landscape for one. I have three in my yard, and I just discovered today that their bloom buds are swelling to fingertip size and are so numerous, I wonder if the plant can hold them all up. Barring another hard freeze, they are going to be quite showy in a week or two. And the aroma of all those blooms is so sweet, it is almost overpowering if you get too close.

Dont' think you have to let a wisteria vine all over the place. They are much more attractive when kept trimmed into a tree form. To do this, you will need to keep the plant staked for several years or until it forms a strong enough trunk to support a tree top. You will need to prune all of the sprouts off the trunk of the tree leaving only a bushy tree top. Every time it grows a runner in the tree top, cut it back leaving only 18 to 24 inches. You will have to cut these runners every two to three weeks during the growing season depending on how much rain there is. Don't be afraid to trim as much as you want off the tree top to get the shape you want. Believe me, it will grow back. Of course, the profuse spring blooms are produced on the old growth, so leave enough in late summer and fall to give you a nice show of flowers in the spring.

When shopping for a wisteria, always buy one that has blooms on it. That way you won't be left with a large plant in 3 or 4 years that has never bloomed. I have been there and done that, and it is very disappointing. Often, a non-blooming wisteria is the result of plants that were grown from seeds rather than propagated from cuttings. If you want a good blooming wisteria plant, it should be a cutting from a good blooming plant.

Once established, the wisteria require very little care. Keeping it trimmed into shape is the main chore. It needs no fertlizer and only a standard amount of water. Just plant it, stake it, and be ready with the trimmers and the camera. Ken Luper

February Cold Spell

Just as my gardens were beginning to show signs of spring, old man winter had to rear his ugly head again with three days of temperatures below freezing. I decided to do an inspection to see what damage I could find.

The forsythia which was already full of bright yellow blooms was now black in appearance, but it seems to always be in a hurry to bloom and ofter gets nipped by the really cold snaps. The saucer magnolias, which sported more flower buds this year than ever before, now have numerous black buds that had progressed to far to withstand the 10 degrees temperature. Maybe some of the small flower buds will be undamaged and will bloom later. I certainly hope so because it is one of my favorite spring flowering trees. The red maple trees which had already sprouted those attractive early red blooms were likewise black and dreary looking.

Pansies and daffodils which were covered with snow and sleet seem to have survived the 10 degrees temperature quite well. The blossoms on the pansies were somewhat damaged, but in a few days they will put on new ones. The daffodil buds were still young enough that I believe they will yet produce their showy trumpets. The crocus are already blooming again so the cold temperatures appear to have had no effect on them.

Overall, I am surprised that there was'nt more damage from the cold spell, but I had watered everything well and the snow and sleet provided some insulation. Let's hope that we have seen the last of those 10 degree temperature. Ken Luper