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Managable Wistarias

Making It Grow Minute
SC Public Radio

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The world, or rather the United States, would be a better place if we could get rid of all the Asian wisterias that have gone rogue and are taking over woodlands and abandoned and yards and houses (I’ve seen it growing into an attic when a window pane was gone). Our much less aggressive native wisterias are still vigorous vines that need a well-built trellis to support them but they’re not going to go haywire. We South Carolinians can be proud one of our fine nurserymen, Bob Head of Head-Lee Nursery in Seneca, as he introduced a particularly fine selection of the native Wisteria frutescens called Amethyst Falls that is relatively easy to find in many garden centers.  It has a heavy bloom early in the season followed by sporadic flowers throughout the summer. The blossom color, as the name implies, is a beautiful bluish-purple.  

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.