It was hard to resist this sweet little display outside Metropolitan Lumber on Spring Street.

Three white Calla Lilies in a sawed-off water bottle quietly perched beside a pallet of concrete mix: literally, beauty and grit side-by-side.

There was no time to stop and ask the smoking, tattooed employee where the flowers came from, but we figure it had to be a good Samaritan finding some discarded blooms and giving them new life. The decision to put them outside for all to see deserves Flowerbox Award praise.

Although it's surely a temporary installation, its effects are lasting. It's the kind of thing you've seen before, but somehow, in this city, its sweetness is more arresting. You've gotta love New York.skgr