What to Know
- 2024 Wistaria Festival in Sierra Madre
- March 17; free street fair; $5-$15 shuttle tickets for anyone who'd like to view the wistaria vine
- The colossal wistaria vine was planted in a private yard in 1894; though the bloom is hard to predict, guests may view the famous plant up close
Southern Californians do love to brag about our local quirky words and turns of phrase — think of automatically putting "the" in front of our freeway numbers — but unusual spellings also play intriguing roles in our region.
Take the wisteria, the curly, twisting, flower-dripping vine that provides us with a lush purple show in late March and April.
In most places, it is spelled with a center "e" but in Sierra Madre, the San Gabriel Valley hamlet that is synonymous, at least in many vine-loving minds, with the showy specimen?
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It's wistaria, most definitely, with an "a" placed firmly in the middle. It's an old-fashioned and charming spin on the term, but then Sierra Madre also boasts those very qualities.
And the picturesque city boasts something else: "The largest flower plant in the world," a wistaria vine that was planted in a private, mountain-close yard in 1894.
The "Guinness Book of World Records" has acknowledged this lavender Leviathan, a blossom-covered behemoth that now stretches across two sizable yards.
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These yards are, quite understandably, not viewable for much of the year, except for a special Sunday in March.
That's when flower fans can catch a shuttle from the heart of Sierra Madre up to the foothills-based homes, all to pay jaw-dropping homage to this vim-filled vine.
A few things to know ahead of the March 17 event? Predicting the vine's bloom isn't always a cinch; some years it is dripping in ethereal purple petals and other years it is just beginning, with only a smattering of blossoms beginning to pop.
A shuttle is whisking people up the big hill to where the wistaria grows; tickets are $5 to $15.
But if you'd like to ramble through the quaint Wistaria Festival, a street fair that unfurls a few blocks south of the vine? You can.
Entry is free, the spirit is sunny, and the booths are full of handmade goods for sale; look also for hang-awhile features like live tunes and food trucks.
You'll find plenty of items for sale depicting wistaria flowers if you'd like to own a bit of the violet vivaciousness associated with the venerable vine.
Residents, in short, are proud of their powerhouse plant, which now weighs in at well over 250 tons.
So will you go with "wisteria," the common spelling, or "wistaria," in honor of Sierra Madre, from this day forward?
Southern California is home to numerous linguistic and literary quirks, including the fun fact that one regional town sticks with an uncommon spelling for a vine that's dearly loved by many.
