It is not like Ma Nature is just sitting in the sky going, "oh some bare soil, I am putting weeds here." Weeds come from seeds. Most people let the weeds go for many years. Some weed seeds last for many years like even 60 years. If you don't have weed seeds in your soil, the only weeds you will get are ones that are blown in by the wind or brought in by birds. When you compost weeds with seeds you just add a lot of weed seeds right back again to your soil. When you let the weeds go to seed it is just the same as composting them or worse even. It only takes two weeks or less of inattention to weeding to cause weeds to seed. Once the soil is filled with weed seeds it is going be nearly impossible to remove them all. Even you mulch with heavy wood the seeds will break through that at some point. If you buy some compost that is not sterile it could have weed seeds. Weeds also come from your neighbors yard under your fence into your yard. It takes never ending work to keep weeds under control.

You know what's funny--I thought the picture I posted was just similar to the house I'd seen, but today I was in Cambridge and drove by the house in question, and it is the SAME house in the picture! Can't believe I didn't recognize it as the same. I didn't see it at its peak with all the flowers blooming at once, so it looked a little different. So I can confirm as of this afternoon that the border in the picture alternates lady's mantle, salvia, and catmint. You can see a little catmint behind the salvia. Since some of you say that you have had success with May Night salvia in part shade, I'm thinking I might try the lady's mantle, salvia, catmint combo with some variegated hostas at the shadier ends, and maybe some campanulas and balloon flower to provide extra color.

I have fragrant mini roses; yellow or rose.

Latex paint is a misnomer. There is no natural latex rubber in latex paints. She should get tested for reactions to acrylic or PVA, which is what waterborne paints do contain. That is MUCH more difficult to remove from construction as acrylics are everywhere. She would be having reactions on a daily basis in normal home and office environments if that were the case though, so that reaction was likely due to another unidentified irritant.