I am the artist of the landscape of my garden. I choose which flowers take center stage, carefully pruning and growing my favorites and pulling up those plants that dare to wander across the border imposing on my design. I call them weeds and yet many have divinely beautiful flowers, intricately colored and shaped leaves and so prolifically grow. The difference seems to be that they don’t ft my way of thinking. They come in from outside the edges – they uninvitedly cross the boundaries of the expected. So, I pluck them up quite furiously.

But, today I decided instead to notice the beauty they bring, the contrast, the free expression of something unfamiliar and unexpected. I allowed the boundaries of my garden to expand. I welcomed the unexpected guests in and the garden suddenly seemed more beautiful.

I have left myself a small path on which I can find the familiar. But these days I’m much less fussy about the weeds.