First, the answer to your question, "what does wisteria smell like?" To me there is nothing like the smell of wisteria. You have to stop and smell it. It's like a very sweet perfume that one could never get tired of. I am biased though, this smell brings me to a very fond memory as a child. My grandmother, who has passed away many years ago, grew a wisteria near her house. It was in the shape of a small tree. My favorite cousin and I had just finished hunting easter eggs and wanted to enjoy our prizes (the boiled eggs!). So we sat ourselves down underneath the gorgeously blooming wisteria, but little did we know that the bees loved it too. We ran away screaming because there were so many. Now as a professional horticulturalist I will not plant chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) because it is highly invasive. I am in zone 8 myself. At my school there was a Natural Resource Conservation department and they spoke of the problems this plant caused to the natural areas. It is irresponsible to plant it if you know the damage it causes. There are alternatives though. The two most popular are Summer Wisteria (Milletia reticulata) and Amethyst Falls Wisteria (Wister frutescens). The summer wisteria is very very stinky. I was waiting on a customer one day at a nursery I worked for and one was near in full bloom. I thought it was the customer's breath! I felt so bad when I realized the smell was still in that area later. The Amethyst Falls, which is in the same genus has a similar fragrance, but somewhat different bloom, but still very beautiful (I will be planting this one myself). The gardens at the campus I went to grows it. I hope this helps. The wisteria at my grandmother's, even though my grandfather passed a few years ago and the land has been sold, it is still there and blooms every year.

Just to chime in, american species of wisteria -- w. frutescens and w. macrostachys -- flower at much younger ages than asian species, and frutescens will repeat bloom if it's cut back after the first flowering. They're both fragrant, perhaps less intense than some sinensis cultivars, but don't forget that asian wisteria can be very invasive and take over back yards if not carefully controlled. I'll post a pic of my 3 year old vine this weekend! Jim

Wisteria is deciduous, so it is normal for them to lose their leaves and look "dead" at this time of year. Mine look that way and so does my neighbor's huge wisteria. No worries yet!

I normally don't do favourite anything but the Jade Vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys, is utterly magical. The colour of the foot long blossom panicles is an unearthly greenish turquoise like no other plant I have ever seen. There is no chance of my ever growing one as I do not have a giant greenhouse but I have visited a couple in various botanical gardens, including the one at the link, and am always completely stunned by them. Here is a link that might be useful: Jade Vine