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Planting edibles near wisteria
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Posted by ericohly 8b (My Page) on Thu, Feb 2, 12 at 14:04
| In the backyard of our new house, the previous owner coaxed a beautiful wisteria to grow around a pergola. The dappled sunlight below it would seem to be a great place to plant some vegetables.
Given that wisteria is poisonous, should I be worried about cross-pollination? Are there any other concerns?
Thanks! |
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RE: Planting edibles near wisteria
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| It doesn't work that way. Plants won't "cross contaminate" each other with pollen or with phytochemicals. You won't grow toxic lettuce by growing it near the wisteria. Just be sure your kids don't accidentally eat a toxic plant thinking it's something edible, and you'll be fine. The biggest "concern" with wisteria is just that it wants to grow way out of bounds for most people and take over. If its on a pergola, you probably will have to do some selective pruning from time to time, or soon the whole thing might look like Cousin It from The Adams Family, with long vines trailing all the way back to the ground. At least, that's kind of what some of my wisteria and similar rampant vines have done. |
RE: Planting edibles near wisteria
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| You have nothing to worry about regarding the transference of toxic elements from the wisteria to anything else. It doesn't work that way. I'd think that the only concern would be that the vegetables would get adequate sunlight. |
RE: Planting edibles near wisteria
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| Thanks for the responses. The pergola is narrow (3' or so by about 6') and faces East, so underneath it gets a decent amount of sun (though clearly not full sun all-day), and we're definitely going to prune it back to allow a bit more sun through. We don't have kids yet, though that thought was in the back of my mind. |
RE: Planting edibles near wisteria
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| No tea or salad from the wisteria itself, but feel free to plant around it. Do a bit of research before pruning, because you risk losing a season of wonderful scent or bloom if your timing is wrong. If you prune improperly, you also risk rampant regrowth. The upside is, you are unlikely to kill wisteria even with the most ruthless of shears if the plant is well established. |
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