The Little Wisteria Tree
I realized I had not written about my wisteria trees this season. There is a good reason that I haven't included a picture of my white one in Laguna. It is gone. When an established plant like this just ups and dies overnight it can only be one thing - voles. They go underground and eat the roots without any sign of a problem, but if you look around you will see their holes somewhere in the vicinity. Because our property is surrounded on three sides by open fields it is almost impossible to eradicate them, all you can do is try to keep them in check. Oh well, the little wisteria standard in SJC is doing fine. I look at it and wonder why I bother with this distorted fantasy of turning a vine into a tree. I doubt it will ever develop a true 'trunk' that will hold up the canopy on its own. I dislike the stake that is necessary to keep it upright and I especially dislike plants over pruned and forced to be something they are not. It is all the fault of the Ito Nursery downtown where they have a gorgeous old gnarly one that is quite charming and romantic. I wonder how long it took to not look like a goofy plant-on-a-stick?
I realized I had not written about my wisteria trees this season. There is a good reason that I haven't included a picture of my white one in Laguna. It is gone. When an established plant like this just ups and dies overnight it can only be one thing - voles. They go underground and eat the roots without any sign of a problem, but if you look around you will see their holes somewhere in the vicinity. Because our property is surrounded on three sides by open fields it is almost impossible to eradicate them, all you can do is try to keep them in check. Oh well, the little wisteria standard in SJC is doing fine. I look at it and wonder why I bother with this distorted fantasy of turning a vine into a tree. I doubt it will ever develop a true 'trunk' that will hold up the canopy on its own. I dislike the stake that is necessary to keep it upright and I especially dislike plants over pruned and forced to be something they are not. It is all the fault of the Ito Nursery downtown where they have a gorgeous old gnarly one that is quite charming and romantic. I wonder how long it took to not look like a goofy plant-on-a-stick?
I think it's rather sweet! Have just read a magazine article about growing Wisterias as free-standing specimens up an obelisk, and the examples looked amazing. Hope the voles don't get this one. Naughty little blighters!
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