Our white Wisteria has been transplanted 3 times.  First,  from a pot in Montclair, NJ then, to our first home in  Riverton, NJ and finally, to suburban Washington, DC.   It is the first major bloomer in our spring garden, and every time I walk under it, I think about the New York Botanical Garden. 

Many years ago, I taught English in the South Bronx.  Nothing makes you appreciate green like a daily commute on the Cross Bronx Expressway.  Friday afternoons, rather than fight the exhaust and the massive lines of cars heading out of the city for the weekend, I would cross Fordham Road and walk into an urban oasis. 

3:45:  drive by a gang house and try not to stare at the men  sitting outside drinking beer and carrying automatic  weapons

4:00: smell the sweet fragrance from  banks of peonies blooming along the walk across from the perennial garden. 

When you look at the ugly, you have a hard time functioning without moments of beauty.  Gardens and flowers are not a luxury.  They are the sustenance that feeds hope.