According to Wikipedia, “Alyssum is a genus of about 100–170 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region.” So, it’s not a native plant, but it certainly does well here. Photos on Google show a dizzying variety of alyssum, each more beautiful than the next. Without my knowing it, we planted purple Alyssum in the patio between other plants that gave up when winter hit. The alyssum has grown somewhat, but seems to be waiting for warmer weather. When I found out it was alyssum the deep purple was a complete surprise. I found myself hoping it would outgrow everything else. But here, as I have said elsewhere, perhaps several times, alyssum is a weed. A beautiful weed, but a weed nonetheless. You’ll find it nestled among clumps of bright orange pansies that start as little dots of bright green. The picture above shows it growing in the vacant lot next-door. It forms large clumps that start as dots of white, and then expand until, I suppose, the heat of summer kills them off. But I haven’t paid attention long enough to know that for certain. I do know, however, that they come and go. And since I was walking through the vacant lot while the plumber worked on the water heater, enough to order parts — I’m looking forward to my first shower in days tonight — I also found flowers, beautiful flowers, growing as weeds.

There are several clumps of these brightly competing with the other weeds. I’ve photographed this flower, at least this variety of flower, at least twice before in carefully maintained gardens, including Absolutely Stunning just a few days ago. This one, and its friends, must have blown in on a gust of wind. They look very healthy, proving that good gardening sometimes benefits the gardener more than the plant, and I’ll be very angry if anyone knocks them down with a weed eater. Maybe Paradise does its best to grab a foothold, but we just won’t let it.