Only in Detroit

So we do with what we have, right? You look around and use the resources that are available to you. Rexburg, Idaho, because it is on the edge of massive lava flows, uses crushed up lava rock rather than salt on the streets in the winter to give cars traction. In southern Mississippi cheap driveways aren't lined with gravel but instead with crushed up seashells. A preponderance of coconuts in Hawaii led to the unfortunate creation of poi. In Utah, they are currently developing cars that powered almost entirely by food storage and self-satisfaction.

Here in Detroit, we also use what we have. Just about every day of the week, I drive past the federal building on downtown on my way to Suzanne's work. Because it's the federal building, there are giant concrete planters surrounding the place to discourage any Timothy McVeigh-style attacks. The planters are filled with nicely kept petunias that always seemed exceptionally vibrant because of the deep black mulch surrounding them. In the back of my head, I often wondered how the mulch stayed so dark and so uniform looking.

In the last couple of weeks, I started walking the mile between my building and Suzanne's and it was on one of those strolls that I finally discovered the answer: