Wisteria Seeds-A-Poppin'

I was sitting on my bed working on my Trees and Shrubs site and other fun online when there was suddenly a loud BANG in my room.  I looked around, startled, as I tried to figure out what could have caused it.  Everything looked the same in my room.

I had an inkling of what it could be, though. I walked over to my book review table, which also holds my tub o' seeds.  Sure enough, the wisteria seeds I had gotten that day from a seed swap (more about that in the next post) had burst open.

Wisteria seed pods always react in such a violent manner, snapping open and scattering their seeds. You can read more about the process in this post from the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County.

I am glad I got them.  I'll be sending the seeds to my folks in California, since they have an arbor as the entryway to our "secret side garden".  Currently it's covered with morning glory vines, which are unfortunately very invasive in their yard.  It sends out roots all over the yard and smothers everything.

Once all the morning glory is ripped out AGAIN (one of these days it will starve....right?), they can plant the wisteria and eventually train it to drape over the arbor. It's sure to be delightful.

I still have 2 pods that are unpopped.  I can't wait until they startle me again.  I could open them myself, of course, but it's much more fun to anticipate a surprise.

Have you ever been around a wisteria vine when the seeds were bursting open?

Photo by Jessibird via Flickr