Wild Wisteria Surprise

A World Within Walking Distance

I really like the small city we live in, its large enough to be diverse and small enough that you are known. In the eight years we’ve lived here, the growth and change has been slow, but steady. New restaurants, shops and housing have arrived, making the city even more attractive to its residents. There’s a great city park with baseball, soccer and football fields, tennis courts, a playground, nature trail and a skateboard park.

One of our favorite aspects is the city park links up to miles and miles of walking/biking trails.Our daily walks with the Grrr Girls on the Northeast Branch Trail provides a different nature story with ever-changing wild life and flora.

This winter, we shared the trail with a pack of young male deer going to and fro from the woods and the levees.

Surprises around every curve

Last evening, as we started our walk, we watched as a big blue heron soared low over the levee. What a wondrous sight he was, his wing span so huge, his flight so graceful.

Further down the trail, we walked through a most amazing scent – it was sweet and bright. As we looked around, it wasn’t clear where it originated. In this particular spot, there were no trees or shrubs in bloom, confounding us as to the source of the lovely aroma.

Stranger still, if you walked two steps forward, the scent simply disappeared. This wasn’t a lingering fragrance, it was very concentrated in a specific spot, and briefly we played with going in and out of the pool of sweet sweet fragrance.

Walking on, we hoped we would encounter more of the delectable perfume, and discover what created it.

Around the next turn in the trail, we were presented with a lovely sight – wild wisteria

The wisteria had created tunnels of vines festooned with hanging panicles of Crayola purple and white cones of flowers

Contrasting beautifully with the bright green of its leaves

and the twisty brown bark of its tentacle like vines.

Its blooms are short-lived, but its bouquet is sweet and its flowers are colorful and lovely.