Stephen Harding’s May 27 column documents his efforts to coax blooms out of a wisteria [“Blooming wisteria still can’t be trusted”]. Those of us who have lived in the southeast have far more hostile associations with the plant: it is an invasive, aggressive pest that almost rivals the infamous Kudzu. The NC Forest Service recommends removing it from the commercial plant trade. I worked for a small land trust which owned a 6-acre nature preserve, over three acres of which were smothered with wisteria, most of it a single plant. It took us years to defeat this Wisteria Monster, culminating with a crew wrestling out a massive stump that resembled a tree more than a flowering vine. With climate change warming Massachusetts, I fear that the day is coming when wisteria will become a similar threat here, turning diverse native ecosystems into near-monocultures. For anyone looking to add a flowering vine to their landscape, talk to the Native Plant Trust, they can point you toward species that are far better for our environment.
Joshua Stuart Rose
Amherst