Wistaria/Wysteria* Hystaria/Hysteria
This Sunday the quaint mountainside enclave of Sierra Madre celebrates its annual Wistaria Festival, centered around its treasured 112-year-old vine (clickably pictured at right) that’s been named one of the “Seven Horticultural Wonders of the World.”
Some of the vine’s other notable stats:
- Produces some 1.5 million luxuriant lavender-colored blossoms
- Weighs approximately 500,000 pounds
- More than one acre in size
- Some branches exceed 500 feet in length
- It can host 40 blossoms per square foot
- Growth rates of 24 inches in 24 hours can occur
- Named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest blossoming plant in the world
Certainly Sierra Madre’s wistaria is the undisputed madre of all wistarias and well worth a look. But if a hike out to the San Gabriel Valley isn’t in the cards this weekend and in the interest of showing some love for lesser wistaria vines that are more civic-centrally accessible, behold these two frontyard beauties I bike by regularly — one in Historic Filipinotown (left) and the other in Culver City (click thumbnails for immensification):
If anyone knows of any other wistaria vines around the L.A. way leave me locations in the comments and I’ll try to snap them if I’m able.
*There are different camps in regards to the plant’s spelling. Some go with the “e,”
while others prefer “wistaria,” citing its being named in 1818 for Caspar Wistar
of the University of Pennsylvania.
Related posts:
There’s an awesome wistaria house on 25th in San Pedro, above Gaffey, but below Walker, and there’s one on Oak Street in Lomita on the short, dead end nub just below PCH. I’d kill to live in a house with a wistaria.
I’m fortunate enough to have one in my own backyard. It frames the doorway to my husband’s office.