See what happens when you don’t mow too carefully.

On the edge of our lawn, a couple of years ago (must have been the year our lawn mower died) the weeds were left to grow and by fall we had discovered a treasure. Jewelweed has  fat seed pods that spring open when you squeeze them, curling up and dropping two seeds in your palm. It is a surprising sensation and more addictive than bubble wrap. The look on people’s faces the first time they hold one is very funny.

Now it is growing of its own free will by the back door. I recognize the round leaves that emerge in early spring and we carefully mow around them. As it gets larger we have to side step just a little to get up on the porch. By late summer it is covered in yellow flowers. I sit on the side porch with my coffee some afternoons watching the bees crawl inside the blossoms and wonder what else I’m mowing.