Several days ago I got a tip that may solve a problem that has plagued my garden for most of my life. Why doesn't my wisteria bloom? Why does it just grow like a weed with no hint of blooms? That is a frequent question I receive and, unfortunately, I had to admit that I didn't know.

The tip came from a horticultural professional in Delaware who traced the tip to a conversation with one of the gardeners at Longwood Gardens. The solution is to prune like crazy and keep a high pH level. In other words, add lime.

My experience with wisteria includes one in the yard during my childhood that bloomed heavily regularly. When I grew up my parents left home and mother took a cutting to her new house some 35 years ago. It puts on a show each spring.

However, when a parking lot was extended at my childhood home the old wisteria was destroyed. I claimed a cutting and planted it on a nearby bank. The result was a runaway vine that seldom, and maybe never, flowered.

The other part of the tip was to prune vigorously. That work should be done in the two months after bloom. That would imply anytime from late May until mid July.

With that said, let me review a few other tips about plants and higher pH. The Amish claim that the only way to grow a nice clematis is to add a cup of lime when you plant it and a half a cup annually thereafter.

Since I heard that one, I have tried it and am about to become a true believer.

Another friend struggled with the perennial baptistia for a time before he found a tip that said baptistia likes high lime. With further thought I guess that makes sense. Baptistia is one of those perennials that are native to the American prairie and that area boasts alkaline soils. Alkaline is the other way of saying high pH.

Of course we all know there is a long list of plants that like a low pH. We know that the color of many hydrangeas is determined by the soil pH. We also know that wooded sites are often low in pH and that the typical old farm field will have a higher pH. We also know that Lancaster County is known for its limestone or high pH soils.

I frequently bash the use of excessive fertilizer in our gardens, especially our flower gardens, but am beginning to think that soil pH, which governs the exchange of nutrients in the soil, might be an area we should pay more attention to.

Perhaps in the near future I will revisit soil pH and try to explain some of the science and garden implications of pH in terms that you and I can understand.