This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have the more reserved relative of a certain attention-hungry, pastel-purple pendulous plant: the American Wisteria (Wistera frutescens).
I’m sure we’re all familiar with the truly awesome display we’re treated to each March. The Chinese Wistera explodes into view with a roaring blaze of violent violets and magnificent magentas. A floral inferno that swallows up tree lines and rains pink ash down upon us for weeks. For me it’s a sincerely bittersweet occasion. I marvel at the inarguable beauty of it all but recoil at the realization that I’m witnessing the coat of arms for a conqueror, an invader laying siege to our native plants. Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis), as the name implies, is not a native plant. Its origins are in temperate China. It made its way to the United States on its merits as an ornamental and has been campaigning through the countryside ever since. Without its natural rivals to keep it in check, its toxic flesh, nitrogen fixing roots, and vigorous twining vines enable it to engulf shrubs and trees uncontested.
As a gardener, I’m envious of Chinese Wisteria’s aesthetic fortitude but repulsed by its unsavory behaviors. Luckily, I have an alternative. A less passionate but no less pretty cousin who is far better mannered, our native American Wisteria. With its pinnate emerald-green leaves, supple ash-gray twining vines, and paler purple locks packed with flowers, there’s no mistaking it as anything but a Wisteria. American Wisteria is a twin for Chinese wisteria but tends to more reserved in many traits. Flowers are less numerous, with fewer per cluster more tightly packed together and a paler complexion. Leaves are smaller and bluish in hue. Vines are shorter and thinner, growing more slowly. American Wisteria is scare but far ranging throughout the Lowcountry. They love rich soils with good drainage but plenty of moisture and seem to tolerate periodic salt intrusion. If you have Chinese Wisteria in your yard or are planning a garden, consider substituting in our more mild-mannered neighbor instead.
