Wisteria is grown as a decorative, highly fragrant vine in Mississippi, but also grows abundantly in the wild, many a time outlasting the home where it was planted.
After an unusually cold spell in late December in Mississippi when many plants were lost, including ‘every rosemary in the state’, to quote my sweetheart, the season has turned around so rapidly that many plants, including this one, are flowering well ahead of time.
I took pictures of the same wisteria in full bloom (but before the leaves had started to open) on the 5th April 2022. The picture I’m sharing today was taken on the 11th March 2023.
Plants can be forgiven for being unsure where they are, not having our recourse to the calendar, but I’m left wondering how many buds and young shoots will be cut back by the cold spell forecasted for this weekend. Traditionally known as ‘Blackberry Winter’, cold weather often follows shortly after the blackberries flower.
Shared for Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Please forgive me if I take (even) longer than usual to reply to comments. I’m posting this from a coffee shop as our internet is still down.
Susan Rushton 
Yes! I’ve been wondering about why the wisteria bloomed so early too. Count my rosemary too among the missing along coastal Alabama. And my mothers’ superfloriferous gardenia among the cold crippled. Thank goodness I took cuttings from it last year. 3 rooted and have chunky buds! 😊🤍🌸💐🌷🍀
That was very lucky – or excellent foresight!
Just dumb luck but happy I made the effort. Hers is a remarkable gardenia. So robust, eager to bloom and show off. Next time I’ll make sure to cover these during the next polar vortex. I’d forgotten to protect mamas’ and paid attention the price. Goodness!
The Eudora Welty house seems to have lost some of their camellia collection and their Lady Banks rose is, well, confused might be the best description.
That’s unfortunate. This last arctic blast was tough. Here on the coast we had 15* for several days. Can’t imagine how low it got up there. The suddenness of it all was the killer.
Despite our significant December freeze, the wisterias seemed to recover fairly well. They weren’t as lush as in some years, and the period of bloom before the leaves began taking over seemed shorter, but they certainly were lovely. Of course, they’re among our earliest bloomers, so seeing them in February wasn’t especially odd.
I do remember the first white wisteria I saw. It was climbing into trees near the Doro Plantation site, near Beulah, MS. That was where I saw my first spiderwort, too — although at the time I had no idea that such a thing as ‘spiderwort’ existed. I only identified it years after the fact, while looking at photos.
February! That would seem very early to the British. There are white wisterias here too, including a huge wild one.
What a gorgeous, glamorous flower that is! I do hope it comes through the looming cold all right. Here in Indiana we have a few thoroughly chilled daffodils and some shivering squill, but nothing else is ready to brave March here. That’s a splendid close-up!
Shivering squill sounds perfect – although perhaps not to the squill.
The weather has been weird all over, from Maine to Mississippi to California, especially California. Hope the wisteria doesn’t get nipped by cold weather, and I hope you soon have your Internet back.
No sign of either yet, happily and sadly.
Is that the more typical Chinese wisteria, or the rare (at least here) American wisteria? To me, the floral trusses look a bit too tapered and too pendulous to be American wisteria. However, the color seems to be more like American wisteria.
This is the Chinese wisteria. My sweetheart says he rarely sees Amethyst Falls Wisteria, even in garden centres.
It is rare here also, but it was not even available a few years ago.
Lovely photo Susan. A lot of my flowers are doing crazy stuff this Summer like having a couple of flowering sessions or extended or short flowering.
There’s no such thing as climate change so many idiots say
Despite clear signs it is becoming more extreme.
They are such beautiful things, but I find them incredibly difficult to photograph. Stay snug this weekend!
They do tend to turn out a blur. That’s why I found a panicle to focus on.
A panicle! That’s a good word.
I hadn’t realised they could live so long
Where they are happy, they are long-living.
Thankfully, our wisteria here is nowhere near to flowering. The weather’s so untrustworthy just now. Good luck with your internet woes!
Thanks, Margaret. We need it!
So pretty Susan
I love the scent too. Having so many flowers makes it alluring.