Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Spring wisteria: early

 I'm recording here 2020's spring flowerings, the wisteria and jasmine in particular.

This year, the jasmine started coming out mid-August.  This is roughly what I would hope for in a normal season: it was initially a late winter blossoming.  In the recent climate-disrupted past, it had been coming out early to mid July at the earliest.


The wisteria started appearing last week - around the 10th of September.  When it first started flowering, it had come out in early-mid spring, the first few weeks of October.  It hasn't come out this early before.


I have to emphasise that this represents the immediate micro-climate at the front of our house.  Other jasmine and wisteria around Sydney - and even around Coogee/Randwick - tends to flower earlier than ours, by several weeks.

So: in 2020 the jasmine came out at a more traditional time, and the wisteria is out a fair bit earlier.

If I were to pick a reason for the wisteria's differential, I might guess that because it spread onto the Bottlebrush and Lilly Pilly trees outside the gate, at least part of the wisteria is getting significantly more sun.

As you can see, it's all white this year - so far.  When I planted it, the wisteria was a light side of purple.  After a few years, the flowers along the side path emerged white, while the rest was purple.  Now it seems to be white everywhere.  On past experience, a few purple flowers may turn up in a few weeks.

2 comments:

bazza said...

I have never got used to everything being back-to-front in Australia! I assume that you and the family are are still living in the same house?
Of course Wisteria starts to activate in April or May in the UK. Now is the time to think about planting it here. It's great to grow in front of the house because it only grows in soil and won't damage any building!
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s joyously judicious Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

S Simmonds said...

Bazza,

Yes, we're still in the same house. We like it here too much to think of moving. As a consequence, I understand the value of longitudinal experience - that is, what changes can happen over a long period of time. That's why I'm recording this.
I'm not sure about wisteria not being able to damage the building: its tendrils can infiltrate and lift tiles, cause water damage, etc. If it finds it's planted in the right environment, it will fight voraciously forever. I'm still battling it away from the eaves, and trying to maintain a human-sized egress along the front paths.
On my Devon trip last year, I visited Ashley Court - you can see the wisteria around the house in the photos, unfortunately not when it was out in full glory. BUT: I know from experience they would be constantly battling to keep it under control.