“A weed is a plant growing where we wish something else to grow, and a plant may, therefore, be a weed in some locations and not in others.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 512
This week as I was watering the garden and flower beds, I spent some time thinking about weeds. The boys and I discussed the definition of a weed and how our yard is filled with plants that we call weeds that others might actually cultivate in their gardens. The unidentified weed above is growing alongside a few things I planted and it has proven to be healthier and more prolific than anything I intended to grow.
The definition of a weed and a plant in my yard come dangerously close. If the plant has some redeeming value like a pretty leaf or a pretty flower or a colorful berry, I sometimes leave it in the ground.
The unidentified plant from above looks like it is covered in beads to me and it is hard to really call it a weed but since it is growing in my flower bed where I didn’t plant it….it is a weed although I left it again this week and didn’t pull it out.
This beauty of a weed actually is growing in the gravel along my walkway. It is so green when most of my yard is turning brown already. It has a delicate white flower with a little yellow trumpet center. The leaves are a pretty shape. I left it in the ground too.
This weed is found all over my yard. It has the softest velvet leaves. I hate to pull it out…so I don’t. It is actually easier to pull it up when it is larger so leaving it in the ground really is a timesaver in the long run.
This blackberry vine is creeping under the fence from our neighbor’s yard. We have a constant battle with blackberry vines. I do have two places that I let them grow in the corners of the front yard so I can harvest a couple dessert’s worth of berries each summer. My husband whacks the vines as soon as he sees them. My husband considers this a “weed”.
This little tiny red berry is on a creeping plant under my crepe myrtle. I have spent a lot of time pulling it up but decided it can just stay. It is no longer considered a weed but a ground cover. (See the tiny mimosa trees also growing among the rocks? More on mimosas below.)
Right now, the plant shown above is my biggest “weed” in the garden and lawn. Tiny little mimosa trees are growing *everywhere*. We cut down a huge mimosa tree earlier this year but the seeds from the leftover seed pods are sprouting by the hundreds, if not thousands. I was making progress pulling them up by making it a goal to weed out fifty seedlings a day but I grew tired of the chore and now they are everywhere again. I need to get back to working on them a little every day. My point is that some people might consider a mimosa a great tree in their yard and actually encourage its growth but for our family the mimosas have to go and so they are considered a “weed”.
For more information on the weeds and seeds challenge, here is a link.
This is just how I feel about it. I see a lot of the “weeds” as free plants :-).
Hi Barb, I had to chime in here! I leave most of the free-growing plants alone unless they’re getting too invasive in my gardens. Many of the plants we call weeds have medicinal value. For instance, your velvety leaves produce a tall spire of flowers called mullein which is beneficial in treating ear infections and respiratory ailments. The plant you show at the top looks like a type of wormwood to me. We have a lot of that growing around our property (in southern NH). I like to let it grow very tall, then cut bunches of it, bend it into a wreath shape, then twist fine wire or twine around it to secure. It has a nice pungent aroma. Good for a base to add to, or on it’s own, it has a quaint, primitive quality. Looks nice with a homespun ribbon at the top to hang it.
Thank you so much for your inspiring blog and the all hard work you do! You’re a blessing!
The big soft leaves look like Lamb’s Ears to me. They used to use them as bandages. We have some and the kids use them on their wounds. I think it is so pretty.
Jenn
I found this to be one of the most interesting studies (OHCs) we’ve done. I surprised myself because of all the amazing outdoor hour challenges we’ve completed – who would have thought the weeds interested me so. I believe it is the very definition given by Ms. Comstock that has us thinking so much on this one! I concur with Barb’s comments – I would LOVE to have wild blackberries 😉 those that are driving her crazy. It’s interesting because a few days after our own post about the horrible vine that keeps creeping in our rose beds ~ we were leaving a homeschool coop at church and looked down and sure enough!! They had this beautiful bed with THAT very vine as their ground cover! Now – granted – they didn’t have much else in it (I meant this vine chokes!) but it was a surprise. I felt the Lord saying – hello! another teaching opportunity! ha ha so I told the children – remember the weed challenge we keep talking about? Look at the flowerbed right there! And my 5, 5, and 7 yo were squealing! That’s our vine weed!! 🙂 That’s when you KNOW its a good lesson! Thanks again Barb for the GREAT ideas – we’re finishing up the seed part of it today! (yes – a week later— lol)