Wisteria leaf color

[WNC Bonsai]

I have two wisteria that I collected this spring and both have survived. I think they are W. sinensis given the 5-9 leaflets on both plants. My question though concerns leaf color. The smaller plant has the typical green leaves and petioles. The larger one on the other hand has leaves with more of a copper or bronze cast to them and more of a reddish petiole. Has anyone seen this before? They have both been treated the same since collecting and are in the same light a foot or so apart. I am assuming they are oth the same species but just different cultivars but haven’t been able to find any info online about this. Here is the big plant.



And now the leaves of the smaller one



And the broze leaves of the big one

 

[Forsoothe!]

The bronze color is normal when leafing out, and will evolve to green soon enough.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Then why is the other one green and never did leaf out bronze?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Totally normal. The bronze color is new growth and it will green up as it hardens off.

 

[j evans]

Nice trunk on the big one.
Good work!

 

[Forsoothe!]

You didn't give the particulars of collection. The one that's green only may be an American wild variety and the bronze a Chinese variety. There are quite a few varieties from around the world. You will be able to ID better when they flower, but then you may not live long enough to see that...

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I talked about that in a separate post “collecting wisteria in winter”. They were both growing together at a friends cabin and he let me have them just to get things under control gain—it was growing everywhere. Otherwise other than the leaf color the two appear identical so I assume they are the same species. They both started popping bud at the same time and the little one never had the bronze leaf color. I’ll see what happens with the bigger one as the season progresses.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I speculate that the bronze one is the understock of a named variety of which the scion died, or not. The other may be one of the wild varieties. As usual, flowers and seed pods are needed to tell the tale. There are hybrids in the trade, too. They need to be rootbound to flower, but anything that is rootbound is subject to dropping dead, so it ain't easy. They are also subject to being killed to the ground in a bad winter, too, where you have to start over to rebuild everything.

On the other hand, having two varieties is interesting!

 

[jason biggs]

that first one looks too cool

 

[rockm]

You don't have two varieties. There is no graft. This stuff is rarely intentionally planted, it just grows wild everywhere here in the South. That is probably the case if the plant was collected among a tangle of them over your friends cabin in the N.C. woods.

The differences in color are most likely because of leaf immaturity and sun exposure. Bronzeish new leaves with this species could indicate it got more sun than it's sibling, or stress on the roots-

You most likely have Chinese Wisteria--wisteria chinensis--as it is the most invasive of the wisteria from Va. down past N.C.into the deep south and the most common. I would doubt very much if it is the American or Japanese variety.

Picked this picture up from the Wilkes County extension office--it is Wisteria Chinensis
https://wilkes.ces.ncsu.edu/2016/03/try-to-avoid-planting-invasive-plants-in-your-landscape/

 

[WNC Bonsai]

You don't have two varieties. There is no graft. This stuff is rarely intentionally planted, it just grows wild everywhere here in the South. That is probably the case if the plant was collected among a tangle of them over your friends cabin in the N.C. woods.

The differences in color are most likely because of leaf immaturity and sun exposure. Bronzeish new leaves with this species could indicate it got more sun than it's sibling, or stress on the roots-

You most likely have Chinese Wisteria--wisteria chinensis--as it is the most invasive of the wisteria from Va. down past N.C.into the deep south and the most common. I would doubt very much if it is the American or Japanese variety.

Picked this picture up from the Wilkes County extension office--it is Wisteria Chinensis
https://wilkes.ces.ncsu.edu/2016/03/try-to-avoid-planting-invasive-plants-in-your-landscape/


View attachment 243738

No these were definitely planted as they were growing on a special built arbor and placed at opposite end posts. Once the tendrils start twinning I know how to tell chinensis from floribunda. However gien the 5-9 leaflets on both plants I am pretty sure they are chinensis. I also have a friend with frutescens so know what it looks like too. But time will reveal all.

 

[amatbrewer]

I have a couple of wisteria (sorry don't know what kind) and experience the same thing. One tends to start out with red tint (has yet to flower) and gradually shifts to fully green, while the other does not ( flowering for the last 3 years or so).
The below pictures were taken only 1 day apart.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Nice trunk on the big one.
Good work!

Yep, when I saw that one I almost wet my pants. It really is a strong one too what with that big trunk. Just hope it doesn’t go punky on me like a lot of collected ones.