tread lightly

there are five types of nearly flat plants in my garden. Each one suppresses weeds like a champ, remains durable under foot and returns year after year with no tending or fuss. Three of them were planted by no one, biding their time in the soil’s seed bank for an opportunity to flourish. The other two were planted by humans. I may or may not have been the one to plant those.

PATIENT AND PRIMITIVE

An area of open ground in the shade of my house once held a group of raised beds. To keep the weeds down, each year I installed untold yards of mulch between the boxes. Then one summer