Berkeley goes wild for wisteria

Wisteria is once once more placing on its annual demonstrate in Berkeley, crawling on trellises and houses to the pleasure of Berkeleyans all across the city.

When the wisteria blossoms each and every calendar year, it is a showstopper. The vine, which comes in purple, white, and even blue kinds, is legendary in Berkeley. Landscape designer Robert Trachtenberg stated that could be because some of Berkeley’s most famous architects, Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan, included wisteria and other elements of backyard garden style into their creations.

Most likely Berkeley’s most effective-identified wisteria-clad setting up is the First Church of Christ Scientist, built by Maybeck in 1910. The constructing is Berkeley’s only countrywide landmark.

But the unruly vine normally takes do the job to maintain. At the legendary wisteria home on Virginia Street, many ladders erected outside the developing manual the vine in an elaborate labyrinth throughout the entrance and facet of the household. Remaining unpruned, the plant has taken in excess of several fences and facades in Berkeley.

Wisteria can take 10 to 20 years to flower and can dwell to be 100 many years outdated. The vine grows as thick as a tree trunk. The oldest-regarded wisteria is a 128-12 months-old vine in Sierra Madre in Los Angeles County that grew to become the topic of controversy last 12 months when the operator pruned it again off the roof, sparking outcry from town citizens.

This yr, Berkeleyside sent photographer Kelly Sullivan on a two-week-lengthy hunt to document the city’s wisteria, and reporter Ally Markovich chased down the flowering vine on multiple operates throughout Berkeley, all for your viewing enjoyment. Take pleasure in!

Didn’t get plenty of wisteria? Test out our wisteria photo stories from 2021, 2017, and 2011, the latter by Robert Trachtenberg.