Wisteria

Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family. The flowers have drooping racemes that vary in length from species to species. The flowers are fragrant with notes of sweetness and musk. The native Asian species flower in the spring before the leaves open, and in mid to late summer in the American species.

Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria Sinensis) twines counterclockwise as it climbs. Wisterias climb by twining their stems around any available support.

Japanese Wisteria (Wisteria Floribunda) twines clockwise as it climbs. Wisteria can climb as high as 66 feet, and spread as much as 33 feet.

Wisteria at Nymans Gardens (West Sussex, England). Although not native to England, wisteria was brought over from China in 1816. Hitomi Hosono would have seen wisteria both in her native home in Japan and in her current home in London.

White Japanese Wisteria

Wisteria floribunda at Ashikaga Flower Park in Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan. The largest wisteria in Japan, it is dated to c. 1870 and covered approximately 1,990 square meters (21,400 sq ft) as of May 2008. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.