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Wisteria
sinenis alba or Chinese Wisteria alba, is a twining,
woody vine found in moist woodland and on stream banks in
China, Korea, Japan, and central and southern USA. It is
a fast grower with stems to 25 feet or longer if grown in
the wild.
Wisterias do not conform to normal bonsai styling; they
are styled to show off their highly scented racemes of
flowers up to 30 cm long. This rarer white variety of
wisteria is easily distinguished for its abundant
flowering and its re-flourishing in the months of May,
June and July. It bares flowers and bunches similar to
the typical wisteria species, but white in colour instead
of the regular lilac shades, and more abundant.This
deciduous vine is awesome in springtime as it leafs out
and flowers. The flowers are followed by attractive
velvety pods 6 inches in length, containing the seeds.
The long dark green leaves are suitable for bonsai
styling as they are made up of 7 to 13 smaller leaflets
that are around 5 cm long.
This plant is often grown with multiple trunks but it can
be trained to a single trunk as a bonsai. Chinese
Wisteria is usually very long lived and trunks can become
quite large and attractively gnarly with age. With
constant pruning, Wisteria can be trained to a small tree
or bonsai-like specimen plant. This repeated pruning also
encourages dense, compact foliage and flowering.
Hardiness zones 5-9, (-5°C/25°F, -26°C/-15°F) in
Winter. Due to the high moisture content of the roots, it
should be given some protection when temperatures drop
below -5°C. It is not fussy about soil type or moisture,
although its preference is a reasonably moist, well
drained, rich to average mix. Full sun or partial shade.
Wisteria require large quantities of water in comparison
to most other bonsai species and need heavy watering to
keep them continually moist. In periods of hot weather
during the Summer, they will happily tolerate their pots
being stood in a shallow tray of water to keep up
moisture levels. However, water trays, if used, should be
allowed to dry out daily. Water heavily before and during
flowering.
In general, Wisteria need more fertilizer than most
bonsai. However, in order to ensure good flowering,
feeding should be minimized during and immediately
following flowering. Fertilize heavily in Spring before
flowering and in late Summer and Autumn, until the leaves
drop.
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