The deceptively still-green middle is actually a Wisteria vine that has survived several attempts to kill it. The property owner over on Crescent cut the vines back, but as anyone familiar with Wisteria knows, it enjoys a challenge. Cut it back and it will flourish all the more.
In 2010, the vines on another tree in this yard were cut down, but as this Plaintalker post recounts, Wisteria ensures its future by dropping "zillions" - well, at least hundreds - of seed pods. (Click on the image to see the flower clusters.)
The vines that climbed the Maple tree are heavily laden with these pods and at the proper time they will split and shoot out the seeds.
One year when the pods were bursting, I thought there were kids outside with cap guns. That's how much noise they make. The shiny brown seeds are about the size of a dime. Each one is capable of growing into a massive, climbing vine that can drag the gutters right off a house in time. The Wisteria on the fence between our yard and Municipal Lot 7 comes back with a vengeance each year. My neighbor and I used to patrol our side with double-tooth saws and a machete, but as noted above, Wisteria always wins a fight to get rid of it.
In Sierra Madre, California, residents have made the most of having the largest wisteria vine on record by throwing an annual festival for visitors to view the vine, which weighs 250 tons and covers more than one acre. It started out as a 75-cent nursery plant in 1894, but by the 1930s it was so large that it caused collapse of a home it covered. Now thousands come to see the vine and enjoy an Art and Craft Faire and other activities when it is in bloom. Is this like the lemons/lemonade maxim or what?
--Bernice
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