Creating a Garden - Shortmeadow: The Wisteria Tunnel

We're creating a garden from scratch on a site that was previously weedy pasture and is basically flat except for a gentle slope and the hill and berms we built.  To create greater interest, provide privacy, and give some sense of scale relative to human size (rather than just ground to clouds), the garden needs vertical elements.  These can be structures like pergolas, trellises, or obelisks.  You can also plant trees, hedges, and taller individual shrubs.  We are incorporating all of these things and we've also decided to build a wisteria tunnel!  (Yes, I am excited about it.)  Below is a picture from last year and very early days (obviously) of a section of the garden.  It was taken in early-ish spring (note the daffodils) and not much had been planted in any of the beds.

The wisteria tunnels in Japan are impressive and the inspiration for our attempt.  We will have a scaled-down version and won't be using Japanese or Chinese wisteria because of their more aggressive growth and potential to be invasive.  I don't have firsthand experience with these traits but I have read about it repeatedly across many sites.  While the decision seems like a good one...we'll be missing out on the really long racemes that Japanese wisteria produce.  So, we'll see if that decision lasts.  Instead, we've chosen wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls' and wisteria macrostachya 'Betty Matthews' (aka 'Summer Cascade') for the wisteria tunnel.  We also have wisteria macrostachya 'Blue Moon' on another pergola.  More on each of these below.

I made the wisteria tunnel using round, pressure treated 10' posts set in concrete two feet in the ground.  With redwood used to build the beams, rafters, and what I'll call "the oculus".  The tunnel structure is eight feet wide, twelve feet long, and eight feet tall.  The oculus in the center of the tunnel's beams and rafters is intended to create an opening that will allow me, eventually, to prune a roughly circular opening in the middle of the tunnel's roof.  It provides about double the space for the opening than what the rafter spacing would allow.  I like the idea of walking underneath the wisteria smothered roof on a hot summer's day, the sides of the tunnel bushing out with wisteria growth (perhaps I should add in some clematis as well?), and being able to look up through the oculus to the blue sky above.

Above left:  my conceptual sketch of the wisteria tunnel.  Above right: the wisteria just starting to wind itself around one of the tunnel posts...and so it begins.

Wisteria Frutescens 'Amethyst Falls'

'Amethyst Falls' wisteria is a cultivar of an eastern US native vine.  It has short racemes (4"-6") of lavender-purple flowers and blooms at a young age on new growth. USDA zones 5-9.  Height: 20', width: 15'.  You can find more details on the 'Amethyst Falls' wisteria here.

Wisteria Macrostachya 'Betty Matthews' (aka 'Summer Cascade')

'Summer Cascade' wisteria has medium length racemes (8"-12") of lavender-purple flowers and blooms on new growth.  USDA zones 4-8.  Height: 20', width 3'-9'.  You can find more details on the 'Summer Cascade' wisteria here.

Wisteria Macrostachya 'Blue Moon'

'Blue Moon' wisteria is a deciduous vine native to the southcentral US.  It has medium length racemes (6"-12") of lavender-blue flowers.  Sources say it can be slow to establish but may bloom 2-3 years after planting.  I planted ours this season and it has already started blooming.  Once established, it may bloom up to three times in a season. Let’s hope that’s the case!  USDA zones 3-9.  Height: 15'-25', width 4'-8'.  You can find more details on the 'Blue Moon' wisteria here.

I'll provide an update as the wisterias (and clematis?) grow and cover the tunnel structure.

Weedy Pete