Wisteria in full flower is a wonderful sight as it lavishly drapes over buildings and pergolas, dripping tiny, pea-like flowers that fill the air with a sweet, musky perfume. By the time the last blooms fade, light-green leaflets take centre stage, softly shrouding the gnarled forms of noble plants that have seen one hundred years or more.
Prized for many centuries in China and Japan, where, even today, there are wisteria gardens for strolling through long tunnels of flowers, it was not until 1816 that the first wisteria seeds were brought to Europe by Captain Robert Welbank. He had been captivated by the flowering tresses hanging from a pergola above his Chinese host’s dinner table. ‘Within ten years, gardeners saw the first young plants flowering around
