Wisteria blooms ... finally

 Nine years ago Dan Miller gave Mom and I a wisteria plant. I planted it beside a heavy metal pole that supported a basketball hoop when we first moved here. The pole has since supported a flag and various other climbing plants.

 The trouble with the wisteria is that it's never bloomed. Since 2011 there has not been a single flower. Each spring Mom and I would watch the plant with anticipation. Was this the year? She died in 2017 without ever seeing it bloom.

 Some species of wisteria, I've learned, are hard to bloom. Was that what we had? I wish I had written down from  the package what it was.

 But finally, this spring, in April, I found it covered with buds. Then several hard frosts killed every last one.

 So I was surprised to spot a bloom - just one - yesterday (07/22/20).

 Until then, we weren't even sure what color it would be. There is hope for next year. Maybe it will wait a bit longer before making buds or maybe we won't have those late cold spells. Here's how it looked earlier this year.

04/08/20 

04/08/20 

04/10/20 

04/14/20 

04/14/20

 It was showing real promise by mid-April. But the night of April 14, we dipped to 39°. Then on subsequent nights 38°and 37°. There was frost each night. The buds were burnt beyond recognition and by May, when I took one apart, it became brown powder in my fingers.

 And so we thought the plant was ruined for another year.

 But now, three months later, it's forced out one bloom. We finally know the color. But mostly we have hope for next spring. Hope does spring eternal.