The remains of my wisterial in the garden. It began to take over the building, and so I had it removed.
Tag Archives: wisteria
Colour Your World: Wisteria
I had a wisteria in my garden and it grew and grew and grew. It climbed over the wires and probably had an attack of claustraphobia as it began to climb upwards to the neighbour’s balcony above. She was thrilled and found it lovely, but I had to warn her and I cut it away. Wisteria have the habit of completely covering the walls of a house, no matter how high, and we live in a ground floor appartment.
One day we decided the wisteria must go, as it was threatening to take over the garden and sprouting in places where it should not sprout. The gardener arrived and removed everything. Three months later it was growing again in a different place. It was like the invasion of the wisteria body snatchers. I cut it down after a short fight and have never seen it since, but I am convinced it is still waiting somewhere in the depths.
Colour Your World: Wisteria
My sister-in-law has a wisteria on her house front. She has a two floor house and it now reaches the roof. I was so enthuisiastic that when we bought our ground floor appartment with gardens on both side and a trellis work on the front side I decided I wanted my own wisteria. The first two years it explored the spaces and then it began to grow. It grew for at least 10 yearseven climbing to the balcony on the next floor. My neighbour was thrilled as it twisted its way into her balcony plate. I told her to cut it away, otherwise it would also take over her balcony. It was when it began to block the sun light from the bedroom windows I decided perhaps I was just a little too enthusiasti.
One day the gardener arrive and removed it. I was sad but also glad. I also told him to remove the wires where it was climbing. Actually he wisteria really fought to remain. The vines had become tree stems. It looked very pretty when it flowered, but when the flowers fell and it rained we had a wonderful mess to clear away. The leaves also decided to drop and cover the path in a disgusting brown slime when it rained.
I do miss my wisteria, but we now have light and air. By the way it still shoots up now and again between the hedge, but I kill it with a machete with special tree cutters. It never gives up, beware of the wonderful wisteria. It sneaks in on you.
Swallowtail butterfly sitting on my buddleia in the garden.
Daily Prompt: Erasure
You have the choice to erase one incident from your past, as though it never happened. What would you erase and why?
Just look at this wonderful bush. We bought it when we moved into our new home and had our own little garden. The supports were already there and the idea was to plant something that would sort of creep along, make wonderful flowers and look good. I decided, we must have a Wisteria. My sister-in-law had one, although she lived in a house and it had captured the wall on one side and looked great. We have a ground floor appartment. Nevertheless we decided a wisteria would be something spectacular and would spread nicely along the trellis.
There were a few things that we did not bear in mind. Wisteria grows and grows and grows. If something is in the way it just strangles it, like choking and twining around metal bars that support the flower arrangement until they bend. They also like to conquer unobtainable places, making them obtainable, such as my neighbour’s balcony upstairs. Actually she was very happy with it and found it a wonderful flower to have growing through the metal construction of her balcony. Imagine her disappointment when I cut it down as I realised it would soon strangle her balcony and that would be somewhat expensive for us to replace.
Naturally when we bought it we got the best. Not a simple average Chinese version, but a Japanese Wisteria. They flower twice a year and twine in another direction. They are also quite indestructable. Not only to they take over all vacant spaces above but spread in the underground. We had wisteria plants growing all over the place. Twice a year, sometimes more, Mr. Swiss would attack the growth with the largest sharpest garden clippers that we had. Mr. Swiss usually won the battle, although as the years went by he found his strength was no longer sufficient. He also had problems climbing the ladder and back again. I had given up a long while ago, however being tall I could pull the branches down and chop away. By the way did you know that wisteria are deciduous, meaning they throw their thousands of leaves on the ground in Autumn. If it rains they tend to stick to the floor which makes the job of sweeping them together more difficult.
After about 10 years of battle we found enough was enough and the death sentence was passed on the Wisteria. We decided it was not a battle we wanted to carry out ourselves, who knows where the roots had reached to, so the gardener was called. He arrived with his truck and I must say in thirty minutes the wisteria was a pile of leaves and branches. We also demolished the wires which were constructed to achieve the perfect growth. The gardener did suggest we could plant another climbing plant, perhaps a climbing rose, or a clematis, but we answered in the negative, thinking perhaps sunflowers or Cosmos would do the job nicely.
We physically erased the wisteria from our past, a decision which we should never have made.
Here it is in all its climbing glory:
And here are the remains – after we murdered it
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 