Wisteria Old And New

Wisteria floribunda Far End Of The Quad (After pruning photo 30th January 2017)

The many wisteria in the gardens have been putting on a beautiful floral display over the last four weeks, their amazing racemes with their delicate fragrance have been gracefully adorning the railings and walls of the college, a sight to behold. Pruned throughout January, see blog entry 30th January 2017 'January, The Month For Winter Pruning', all the hard work by the gardening team has really paid off.

Wisteria floribunda Far End Of The Quad In Flower 15th May 2017

Wisteria floribunda Far End Of Quad and Quad Lawn (View From The Terrace)

Wisteria floribunda Far End Of Quad (View From On The Quad Lawn)

Wisteria floribunda Far End Of Quad (View From The Provost's Rose Garden)

Wisteria floribunda 'Black Dragon' On The Top Terrace (see blog entry for 30th January 2017 for the after pruning photo)

Wisteria floribunda Over The Lower Archway (see blog entry for 30th January 2017 for the after pruning photo)

Provost's Wisteria floribunda (see blog entry for 30th January 2017 for the after pruning photo)

Wisteria sinensis (Back Of The Cottages, 24th April 2017)

Introduced to England in the 19th Century, it is unknown when the old, mature specimens in the college gardens providing this wonderful display were actually planted, but who ever planted them, thank you. With gratitude to the gardening team of old for their vision, the current team have continued to plant new varieties of wisteria over the last few years, hopefully to be enjoyed by the staff, fellows, students, visitors and future generations to the college over the next 100 years.

Wisteria brachybotrys 'Murasaki Kapitan'

The old, mature specimens in the gardens are:

•  Wisteria floribunda (Japanese Wisteria), its long racemes of flowers appear at the same time as the leaves and its stems twine clockwise.
•  Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria), its short racemes of flowers appear before the leaves and its stems twine anticlockwise.

The five new wisteria are:

•  Wisteria brachybotrys 'Murasaki Kapitan', short racemes of fragrant deep violet flowers (Silky Wisteria from Japan with silky hairs on the leaves)
• Wisteria brachybotrys 'Showa-Beni', short racemes of strong pink flowers (Silky Wisteria from Japan with silky hairs on the leaves).
•  Wisteria floribunda 'Schiro Kapitan Fuji', short racemes of pure white flowers
•  Wisteria floribunda x sinensis 'Burford', long racemes of lilac blue and purple flowers
•  Wisteria floribunda 'Shiro-noda', long racemes of  white flowers

These new plants will be trained against the walls and railings as there ancient cousins were and, in time, will add to the already spectacular display. 

Wisteria brachybotrys 'Showa-Beni'

Wisteria floribunda 'Schiro Kapitan Fuji'

 

Wisteria floribunda 'Burford'

Wisteria floribunda 'Shiro-noda'