Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Wisteria hysteria!
No room for your own? Then here are the best places to go and enjoy this majestic climber
Our sunny and dry weather has brought us a spectacular show of wisteria several weeks ahead of schedule this year. The sight of the long clusters of lilac, blue, pink or purple flowers clothing walls and pergolas is always a thrill, but growing wisteria requires lots of space and twiceyearly pruning. Fortunately for those of us who don’t have room to accommodate it, there are plenty of gardens where you can see this beautiful and highly fragrant climber at its best.
At Greys Court near Henley in Oxfordshire (nationaltrust.org.uk), the wisteria was planted 127 years ago and is now so large that it forms a canopy big enough to walk under. It’s a magnificent display, and the buzzing of insects attracted by the flowers is quite deafening. Also in Oxfordshire, Waterperry Gardens near Wheatley (waterperrygardens.co.uk) has a romantic wisteria arch with a bench at one end – the perfect spot to sit and enjoy the garden.
Hole Park near Cranbrook in Kent (www.holepark.com) is most famous for its bluebells, but in an area called the Vineyard you’ll also find six standard wisterias, pruned so they look like trees. Beyond that is a pergola planted with more wisteria, combined with roses and clematis.
At Nymans in West Sussex (national trust.org.uk), the picturesque ruins of the house that largely burned down in 1947 are romantically swathed in wisteria and clematis. There is also a long arbour draped with wisteria.
One of the most famous wisterias in Britain is to be found at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire (english-heritage.org.uk). Festooned along one long wall, it is around 150 years old and expertly trained for maximum impact. Even older is the wisteria at Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent (nationaltrust.org.uk). This 200-year- old plant, growing against a Kentish ragstone wall, is magnificent at this time of year.
There are many wisterias at Kew Gardens in west London ( kew.org) but the prize for longevity goes to the specimen originally planted in 1761. Its thick stems now twine around a circular metal arbour; when the wisteria is in bloom, visitors can sit surrounded by fragrant flowers on all sides.
Marwood Hill near Barnstaple in Devon (marwoodhillgarden.co.uk) is renowned for its extensive collection of plants. One of the highlights is the pergola, where 12 types of wisteria are combined to dazzling effect. At the Garden House near Yelverton in Devon (thegardenhouse.org.uk), wisterias are grown in a variety of picturesque ways – cascading down a bridge, scrambling over arches and the front of the house, and framing doorways.
At Kailzie Gardens in Scotland’s Tweed Valley (kailziegardens.com), an old wisteria flowers prolifically, filling the greenhouse with its heady perfume and sumptuous colour.