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ing it for use in gardens. Its popularity spread, and it was introduced to Europe in the 1700s and first planted in the U.S. sometime around 1816. It was named after botanist William Wister, who studied it during his travels through Japan.

In ancient China, wisteria was used as a medicinal plant, while elsewhere the vines adorned the gardens of Versailles for fragrant decor. Napoleon planted them along the roadside and around his estate, while Thomas Jefferson wrote about them extensively and had a few growing at Monticello. They’re even mentioned in Shakespearean literature. Today, wisteria grows wild up trees, utility poles and across fences and walls across America.

I am simply wild about wisteria. There’s something about its unrestrained beauty and intoxicating fragrance that speaks to something deep inside me – that part of me that feels completely alive when I’m outside among trees, plants and wildlife. Perhaps it’s the memory of those childhood moments on my grandmother’s porch, or maybe it’s the way it transforms ordinary landscapes into something extraordinary. In a world that often feels complicated and divided, wisteria reminds us that beauty can still flourish wildly, without permission or apology. And perhaps that’s exactly what the world needs more of right now – not just carefully curated beauty, but the kind that overtakes us unexpectedly, inviting us to pause, breathe deeply, and remember what it feels like to be amazed.