Wisteria
floribunda 'Black Dragon'
This has long scented purple blue flower
trusses in May; otherwise
it is typical Wisteria floribunda. The books will tell you the
main difference between this and W. sinensis is the clockwise
twisting stems (anticlockwise in sinensis) but I think its flower
panicles which are twice as long (up to 30") and appear on
the bare stems in spring and its vigour (less than half the
eventual size of sinensis) more of a distinction. The flowers are
purple blue and semi double and heavily scented (Lily of the Valley).
As
the buds are easily damaged by spring frost give it a south or
west wall. In the wild Wisterias start flowering when they reach
the tops of trees. They know when they have done this by two
things
1: the light levels rise (make sure you choose a sunny place)
2: the stems bend over (there is nothing more for them to climb)
this causes a restriction to the sap and the plant starts making
flowering spurs, this can be faked by pruning long unwanted
shoots back to about three buds in AUGUST . In later years the
size of the plant may be controlled in winter, but like fruit
trees it is the summer pruning that induces flower buds.
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