six months of Wisteria - from woe to go

 Wisteria looks bare and naked in June after cutting back, but can look even more woeful if it's not cut back and you are left with an unruly messy tangle of brown stems!   

Naked, bare and drear after mid winter pruning.

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But by October hope returns with spring and the buds are swelling.

I'm not a fan of a lot of trimming and pruning in the garden, as I like my garden to look natural - even a bit overgrown rather than neatly trimmed.  But with Wisteria, pruning is the only way, if you want  to avoid being  taken over and buried by it.  ​Growing where it does right outside my kitchen and living room doors opening into the courtyard, I could easily get tangled up in it when I go outside, so even though it goes against the grain, I do have to clip it back in winter, to avoid being strangled. 

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​But by late October look what's happened to it!

These gorgeous long white panicles of flower surround me as I step outside. They are scented and brush softly against my face and I am engulfed in perfume.

 

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From those bare truncated branches and tight buds in June, they have unfurled into dripping whiteness by October and the garden is drenched in the most haunting perfume which also drifts throughout  the house. ​

Aptly named 'Snowshowers' the petals of this Wisteria fall like drifts of snow everywhere - pure magic!

If you are under the Wisteria when spring breezes blow, the petals really do fall all over you and cover the ground like soft snow. 

This white Wisteria does indeed resemble it's name -

'Snowshowers' 
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But the end of November the Wisteria loses it's petals and bloom and it just gets downright raggy, leaving a very messy courtyard beneath. Another 2 weeks and the flowers have all but gone and leaf is taking over.

​​Today in mid December my courtyard begins to look like the green leafy haven it becomes over summer, shading the house and doing the job it's meant to do - protecting me and the house from intense summer sun.