{"id":534,"date":"2011-03-23T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T23:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/03\/florida-discoveries-5-mass-wisteria.html"},"modified":"2011-03-23T23:45:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-23T23:45:00","slug":"florida-discoveries-5-mass-wisteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/03\/florida-discoveries-5-mass-wisteria.html","title":{"rendered":"Florida Discoveries 5: Mass Wisteria!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a 12.3 mile drive on U.S. 98 between our neighborhood in Navarre, and Dave’s base to our east. That road is a nightmare a lot of the time; it’s the only east-west artery along the Gulf Coast connecting Pensacola with Fort Walton Beach, so the majority of businesses set up on this road, and it’s extremely congested<\/a>. Dave probably has a dozen traffic lights on that 12.3 mile stretch (perhaps I’ll count it the next time I make the drive and report back to you).<\/p>\n

As I wrote about recently, living on the Gulf Coast opens up a new world of flora<\/a> and fauna<\/a>. This being our first springtime here, it’s been a surprise every week seeing what does grow in this area. We’d spent time on the East Coast of Florida in Melbourne years ago, and went from there to central North Carolina. The differences in flora between the two locations was profound.<\/p>\n

This area seems to be a blend between the two. Banana trees will grow, but so will bradford pear trees. This week brought out the wisteria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For those familiar with this invasive species, wisteria typically spreads their vines very aggressively, and many American cultivars don’t flower until 10-15 years after first seeded.<\/p>\n

That being said, most of the wisteria I’m seeing in this area are in undeveloped plots of land. In my neighborhood itself, there aren’t a lot of wisteria. Most of what I’m seeing is along that 12.3 mile stretch of U.S. 98. In these photos below, the wisteria vine has been allowed to grow for several years without any pruning, and it’s growing up the telephone pole and draping itself over other large trees. <\/p>\n

I also noticed that this particular one wasn’t as purple as others I’ve seen around. I’ve seen one very pretty plant in someone’s front yard in my neighborhood, the only one that appears to have been planted in a particular spot “on purpose”. It’s clearly well-pruned every year, and it looks very attractive. I haven’t gotten a picture of that one, I don’t want to freak out the homeowners.<\/p>\n

I wanted to also discuss a book I had read with a book club I was in when we were living in North Carolina.  But I can’t remember the title or author!  One of the “characters” in the book was the centuries-old wisteria on the family’s property.  It told the reader a history of the protagonist family…I thought it was clever and creative.  If anyone knows the name of the book I’m talking about, please remind me!<\/s><\/p>\n

I found the name of the book!  “The Floatplane Notebooks” by Clyde Edgerton!<\/a><\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
This is a huge sprawling wisteria vine!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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I wish this blog had smell-o-vision…they smell very very nice.  Not as nice as lilacs or honeysuckle or good roses, but still nice.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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I wish I had my good camera with me, but I’m impress with how these iPhone photos came out.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Extreme closeup!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
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Like kudzu<\/a>, wisteria is an Asian-originated vine of the pea family that grows VERY fast!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a 12.3 mile drive on U.S. 98 between our neighborhood in Navarre, and Dave’s base to our east. That road is a nightmare a lot of the time; it’s the only east-west artery along the Gulf Coast connecting Pensacola with Fort Walton Beach, so the majority of businesses set up on this road, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[626,51,136,135,134],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-8C","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":555,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/05\/florida-discoveries-10-dr-beals-shell-museum.html","url_meta":{"origin":534,"position":0},"title":"Florida Discoveries 10: Dr. Beal’s Shell Museum","date":"04 May 11","format":false,"excerpt":"I call it \"Pulling a Maryann\". \u00a0I see something while driving down the road, so I pull over and take some pictures.When it's in my neighborhood, that's one thing. \u00a0I don't have many problems doing that when I see some pretty flowers. \u00a0But today I screeched onto the shoulder off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-PHj9nszYiRo\/TcCnGEGJYtI\/AAAAAAABVV8\/OtVcbr6JFQY\/s400\/IMG_4656.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":587,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/06\/really-florida-is-a-really-big-state.html","url_meta":{"origin":534,"position":1},"title":""Really?" Florida is a REALLY BIG STATE","date":"15 June 11","format":false,"excerpt":"We learned this already on our drive to Orlando last weekend. \u00a0Navarre, Florida to Orlando is about 6 hours worth of driving.We were able to get from Raleigh, NC to Washington, D.C. in less time.But when we started doing our driving planning for our annual June trip to central PA\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"family\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-6Y08w2Bh9NI\/TfjP-zbcS3I\/AAAAAAABWx8\/cS5OHOGeQQg\/s640\/Navarre2Mountville.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1975,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/03\/florida-discoveries-41-navarre-beach-marine-science-station.html","url_meta":{"origin":534,"position":2},"title":"Florida Discoveries 41: Navarre Beach Marine Science Station","date":"27 March 13","format":false,"excerpt":"Just before the kids' Spring Break, I had the chance to partially chaperone for Timmy's class trip to the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station. My sons have taken field trips with their classes every school year they've been living here, and I suspect it's an annual tradition for all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dolphins\"","img":{"alt_text":"The Navarre Beach Marine Science Station is run by Santa Rosa County and the Santa Rosa County Schools. Its mission is to promote environmental awareness through education of the county's marine ecosystem.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/DSC_2606-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":540,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/florida-discoveries-8-kayaking.html","url_meta":{"origin":534,"position":3},"title":"Florida Discoveries 8.5*: Kayaking!","date":"06 April 11","format":false,"excerpt":"*I've had to do some re-numbering with my Florida Discoveries posts, so instead of re-numbering everything, I just stuck a \"0.5\" in there. How many of you remember this video from Sesame Street? For years and years and years this was my perception of kayaking. \u00a0Being sealed into this fiberglass\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"boating\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/_yz59FVsseJY\/TZzE4_TzNLI\/AAAAAAABUFA\/qN2TLu3VpAw\/s640\/192080_10150178807888428_503838427_8459101_379317_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1740,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/02\/florida-discoveries-37-navarre-beach-mardi-gras-parade.html","url_meta":{"origin":534,"position":4},"title":"Florida Discoveries 37: Navarre Beach Mardi Gras Parade","date":"10 February 13","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year we went to Mobile and experienced some pretty serious Mardi Gras-ness. This year we kept it local, so here's some pictures from the Navarre Beach Mardi Gras parade, sponsored by the Navarre Krewe of Jesters. You had to get to the route quite early, since they close the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida\"","img":{"alt_text":"Our waiting spot for the parade. 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