a chinese wisteria tree

IMG_7200 2.JPG
 

I’m starting a collection of trees I see and love from around the world.

this tree is a chinese wisteria tree growing in riverdale, the bronx — at the wave hill garden and cultural center.

the trunk of the tree is flat, almost like the flat edge of a blade. then it arches up and twists itself around the corner of the house, and hangs over the other side, overlooking a hill.

 
IMG_7189 2.JPG
 

its blossoms are magical and so fragrant. a delicate and fragile kind of beauty.

I don’t know why it’s called a chinese wisteria — I’ve never seen one before in china, and I don’t understand how I’m seeing this for the first time in the bronx, new york city.

it has a melancholic, bittersweet sort of beauty which reminds me of willow trees of my hometown.

 
IMG_7192 2.JPG
 

it is the the kind of tree I’d plant for my mother, or my daughter, or my sisters, hugging a house I build for her, with a large window looking into the blossoms every year.

maybe she would sit by the window drinking tea, listening to music, as time ages her and the tree — until the tree outlives her one day, and carries on her spirit in the fragrance of the blossoms each spring.

 
Kening Zhutree collection, travel diaries