From the National Days website:
The Festival of Life in the Cracks Day on March 10 celebrates the sprouting of greenery in the cracks of sidewalks and walls to commemorate the coming of springtime. This annual event acknowledges the complexity of the cycle of life and how renewal and rebirth are integral parts of it. The day encourages appreciation of the wonders and beauty of nature, and the gloriousness of life.
Great purpose and good timing. A few years ago I did my own celebration:
This week’s big rain triggered a ferocious sprouting of a ‘ground cover’ plant in ALL of the street cracks. The streets are a dense web of cracks now, thanks to the Gaian city dysgovernment abandoning silly little games like plowing and sanding. Ice has full control of the streets in winter, and criminals have full control in summer.
The ground-cover plant is always present in the well-watered crack between the pavement and the curb. I grabbed up a handful and scanned it:
Normally it doesn’t show up in the smaller cracks. Now it fills and marks every crack wider than 1/4″. This plant obviously doesn’t need soil, and seems to dislike soil. It doesn’t grow where the dips in the street have gathered a permanent deposit of dirt.
Are the stolons just waiting year-round, always ready to explode into action with sufficient water?
After some googling … I know nothing about plants, and most pix of “ground cover between pavers” or similar phrases aren’t closeups, so can’t compare the tiny leaves. The nearest equivalent with a clear picture is creeping thyme.
Later: It’s not just my neighborhood, it’s everywhere. Every crack is caulked with Creeping Thyme.
Michael Bloomberg, you may own the commanding heights of Spokane, but Creeping Thyme owns the ground. Creeping Thyme was here before you, and will still be here after you.
Polistra's Mill 