While many cherry trees are still in full bloom, wisteria trees in Taiwan have begun to flourish across the country in the spring. Among them are those in the Wisteria Coffee Plantation, also known as the Purple Vine Coffee Garden (紫藤咖啡園), which is the most famous wisteria garden in Taiwan.
Boasting the largest garden of its kind in Taiwan, the Wisteria Coffee Plantation in fact comprises two separate beautiful gardens, Tun Mountain Park (屯山園區) and Shui Yuan Park (水源園區). They are situated in New Taipei City’s Tamshui District (淡水區).
Please watch the following video of the beautiful Wisteria Coffee Plantation in northern Taiwan’s New Taipei City.
With about 500 wisteria trees, Tun Mountain Park measures a mere 0.9 hectares (2.2 acres) in size, while Shui Yuan Park spans approximately 3.3 hectares (8.3 acres), and has about 1,000 wisteria trees.
Starting with just 21 wisteria trees imported from Japan, the wisteria garden was established by the operator, surnamed Lai, over 20 years ago.
Nevertheless, due to the moist environment, flower clusters of the wisteria trees planted in Taiwan are not as long as their wisteria counterparts in Japan, and their flowering period is only about one-third of what it is in Japan.
Tun Mountain Park has an extensive wisteria garden
To solve these problems, Mr. Lai has dedicated himself to the research of wisteria plantations and has visited relevant experts in Japan many times over the past decades. With his persistent dedication, he finally overcame the bottlenecks and made Wisteria Coffee Plantation one of the most beautiful wisteria gardens in Taiwan.
In addition to the impressive purple flower clusters under the extensive wisteria trellises in the garden, Tun Mountain Park also features a beautiful wisteria tunnel stretching some 100 meters (320 ft) along with four replicas of Moai Statues (摩艾石像) surrounded by beautiful flowers in the middle of the Park.
After five years of preparation, the garden’s Shui Yuan Park was opened in 2016. Boasting the longest wisteria tunnel in the country (450 meters, or 1,475 ft), the Park has a vast expanse of wisteria trellises with an area of over 2,300 square meters (0.6 acres).
Hundreds of wisteria trees are bursting into furious bloom under the immense trellis. It is romantic to walk through the tunnel while gazing up at numerous stunning flower clusters and enjoying their strong floral scent.
Besides twining vine-like wisteria on trellises, the Wisteria Coffee Plantation also features giant wisteria trees that stand independently with a plethora of purple flower strings.
In the garden’s two parks, there are also a variety of other beautiful flowers, such as roses (玫瑰花), camellias (茶花), Verbena officinalis (馬鞭草), iris (鳶尾花), African lilies (愛情花), Argyranthemum frutescens (木茼蒿), Firecracker plant (爆仗竹), and some other beautiful plants.
The Wisteria Coffee Plantation has become a popular spot for flower enthusiasts over the years. When visiting the garden, you will be almost overwhelmed by the fresh scent and the beauty of numerous flower clusters lying on top of one another on the wisteria trees there.
As wisteria has a short blooming period, the Wisteria Coffee Plantation only opens about 20 days every year. In 2020, Tun Mountain Park is open from March 25 to April 15, and Shui Yuan Park is open from March 20 to April 15.
According to the garden’s announcement, the peak blooming period this year is from March 28 to April 10, and admission is NT$300 (US$10) per person at present. Other than that peak period, the admission is only NT$200 (US$6.70) or NT$250 (US$8.30) based on the extent of blossoming.
