Weeds are very successful strategists. They have developed ways to grow in poor soil, low light and varying amounts of moisture. I respect any plant that comes up through the cracks in the sidewalk.

I love the smell of college football in the air and Paul Finebaum blasting from my flat screen. Some people call it fall, but I call it football season as the golf season wanes into the Fed Ex Cup playoffs followed by the Ryder Cup. How does this fit into mindfulness and the alternative perspectives this column is known for, you may ask? There’s a time and a season for everything and everybody, isn’t there? Besides, the point of meditation or mindfulness is to find you in the everyday.

Most of the gardens in my life – the private gardens, the gardens of friends and relatives – have a history associated with them. Sometimes the home has some historical significance; sometimes the garden itself has been designed and worked and maintained for generations of gardeners; and sometimes the garden simply carries with it the long memory of gardening traditions in the deep South.