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What could it be but wisteria – more marvellous than ever as it suddenly erupts in this explosive spring? I photographed this grand plant sprawling over balustrades and stairs in a villa garden on Lake Como in April. The common belief that wisteria is a climber and must be given a wall or a tree is ignored in Italy, where it is often planted free-standing and pruned without mercy to make a shape that fits its surroundings. It responds by flowering even more extravagantly.

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