Last weekend we took my parents to the annual Wisteria Vine Festival in my town. It is amazing to know just in our little town (which a few years ago was voted in the top 10 small towns of America) we have not one, but two of the biggest things! One is the Wisteria Vine (the largest living blooming plant in the world!).
Once a year the two homes that the vine is located on open the yard to view the vine. It takes over an acre of property. So how did the vine get here you may ask? Well...
Sierra Madre's vine was originally purchased in a gallon can for 75 cents in 1894. The seeds are said to have been brought to Europe by Marco Polo (also known for his fun swimming pool game) in the 13th century as prized treasures from the Orient. In 1913 extra arbors were built to support the vine so it could cover the house, and it did just that ; eventually the roof collapsed and the house was torn down in 1931. The arbors were retained, and a new house was built 200 feet away.
Other fascinating facts about the vine include but are not limited to:
1.5 million luxuriant lavender blossoms
250 tons
More than one acre in size
500 foot branches
40 blossoms per sq. foot
Growth rate (per various experts) from 24" in 24 hours to 26" in 48 hours
Named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest blossoming plant in the world
The vine has been named one of the seven horticultural wonders of the world, along with the redwood forest in Sequoia National Park, Brazil's tropical jungle in the Amazon Valley, Mexico's Xochimilco floating gardens, India's gardens of the Taj Mahal, Japan's Yokohama rock gardens, and the gardens of Buckingham Palace
In 1918, 12,000 people attended the first public Wistaria Festival. In the 1930s, a 6-week Wistaria event took place, with more than 100,000 people making the trip to see the vine.
In the 1940s and again in the 1960s, at considerable expense, the vine required horticultural restoration, dry ice packs, three foot hypodermic needles with Vitamin B, hormone shots and more.
Through the years the vine has had many nicknames, among them Glorified Bean, Jack's Beanstalk, Queen of the San Gabriels, Lavender Lady, Sierra Madre's Treasure, and the Monster.
We had a fun day, after visiting the vine, we went down to the park for some snacks, then walked down the main drag that was filled with vendors, and had lunch at Lucky Baldwins (one of the early town's folk)
Although we learned all of this on the tour, I needed a bit of help remembering so fun facts were provided by the Sierra Madre Wistaria web site
4 comments:
Wow, gorgeous flowers!! Thanks for educating me on it.
Thanks for the education, I hope your parents had a great visit. The vines are amazing.
Well, my initial reaction to the title was maybe Michael was guest-blogging for you. It does look beautiful!
It's important to learn something while your parents are in town.
Where, oh, where is my favorite Terri? Where, oh, where is dear favorite Terri? Where, oh, where is dear favorite Terri? I keep looking for updates! :)
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