while the flowers are gorgeous those flowers of amethyst falls tend to have a cat pee smell to them. Thats my 2 cents.

Oh my! That's not what I'm looking for to have hanging over our patio. I'll have to check out a few more of the American wisteria cultivars, then. Ones that smell nice!

Patty S.

Had this vine in Georgia and never noticed an odor. I don't know if it is different in CA

It was in MA when I noticed the smell, there are certain arborvitae, junipers, and buxus that have that scent as well. The variety blue moon (macrostachya) is supposed to have a nice scent and rebloom I'm not sure if its asian or american though.

Thanks, chazparas. Sounds like 'Blue Moon' is reasonably vigorous (it's a hybrid of an American wisteria, so not Chinese and invasive). Of course it will be in optimal growing conditions, so it's still going to be growing 10' a year no doubt :-) I'll give this cultivar a try, it seems to have very nice comments out there, and also is one of the more fragrant of the wisteria with nice long racemes.

Patty S.

They look nice in photos but when I saw them in real life I found them to be underwhelming.

Clematis, are you referring to 'Blue Moon' being underwhelming? My patio roof isn't so large, maybe 12 x 12, so I don't want a vine that in a few years ends up taking the patio roof down :-) I know that the Chinese wisteria do have those lovely long racimes, but they are SO aggressive here. My vet's old building they were in had some Chinese wisteria cultivar growin up the side. It covered the entire 1/2 of the building, including the roof. I'm not sure what was more breathtaking/horrifying - the incredible display of flowers when it was in bloom, or the fact that it covered the entire half of a decent-sized commercial building!

Patty S.