Capers With Carroll

Winter has not yet brought enough cold weather to knock the last leaves from our back yard oak tree (Quercus lobata), but already the weeds think it is spring. The young Miner’s Lettuce (Montia perfoliata) would be unrecognizable for someone familiar only with the very different leaf of its adulthood. The smaller ones are almost indistinguishable from the Chickweed (Stellaria media). The Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) thinks it can hide from me. I’ll try to pull it soon, before it spreads to the whole yard. The Miner’s Lettuce already has most of the back yard, but I like it. I only try to keep it from spreading to the neighbors’.