The wisteria
with TROY SCOTT SMITH
Lesson 52 of 56
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From the backdrop of the magical moment of wisterias flowering at Sissinghurst, Troy shows you how a wisteria can be multifunctional as well as sublimely beautiful, and how to get the most from your own - because he believes there’s a wisteria for everyone.
From the Lesson Workbook
The Wisteria
It's the magical moment of wisterias flowering at Sissinghurst. I'd like to show you how a wisteria can be multifunctional as well as sublimely beautiful, and share how to get the most from yours – because there's one for everyone.
We have Wisteria floribunda 'Alba', which has long racemes of scented white flowers. With several species and many cultivars to choose from, there's a wisteria for everyone.
Ours grows over a wall that has a bigger drop on one side than the other. Planted on the side with higher ground, it hangs down on the other side over a path for a sensory experience. This works well: the sunken ground traps the scent, while the growth above the wall creates a soft divide between formal and informal areas of the garden.
The Key Tips Are To:
- Get the positioning right – somewhere where it has room to grow, and with a bit of sun for best flowering.
- Get the pruning right – remove excess growth in summer to allow sun in to ripen the wood for next year's flower buds to develop.
"This is an absolute joy of a moment that I look forward to every year at Sissinghurst"
Further Reading
- RHS guide to wisteria pruning
Plant Directory
Wisteria brachybotrys f. albiflora 'Shiro-kapitan'
Silky wisteria
Hardy deciduous climber
Fabaceae
Wisteria floribunda f. alba 'Shiro-noda'
White Japanese wisteria
Hardy deciduous climber
Fabaceae
Glossary
Diaphanous
Something so delicate and thin that you can see through it.
Raceme
A group of flowers on a plant that are attached to a central flowering stem by short stalks of roughly equal length, with the flowers at the base of the stem opening first and those at the tip opening last. E.g., foxgloves, lupins, wisteria.
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Your Instructor
Troy Scott Smith
Head Gardener at Sissinghurst. Garden Writer, Speaker & Lecturer.
Troy Scott-Smith, previously head gardener of Iford Manor and Bodnant garden, now oversees the cherished grounds of Sissinghurst - one of the most famous gardens in England and is designated Grade I on Historic England's register of historic parks and gardens. Coming from a family of committed naturalists, Troy is a seasoned horticulturist, writer, designer and consultant, Troy is also a respected member of the RHS Floral Committee. When he set his sights on the head gardener role, he did so with refreshing candour, speaking passionately of the garden’s need for thoughtful evolution. It is a mark of the National Trust’s forward-thinking spirit that they embraced his vision, inviting him to guide this historic landscape into a compelling new chapter.
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