Thursday, JUN 18, 2009
www.lincolnjournalinc.com
Ask half a dozen people to define a weed, and you'll get half a dozen different answers. We all know what weeds are, in our own minds; but it's not so easy to say in just a few words. And, besides, one person's weeds may be another's wildflowers. A wildflower mix may contain yarrow, oxeye daisies and ironweed. Here in the country, they're considered weeds in pastures and fields, but they're wildflowers and they are pretty in bloom.
Some plants considered weeds here in America are cultivated as desirable flowers in other countries. Actually, when we stop to think about it, we realize all plants are wild somewhere in the world, or at least started out that way. Some of them have been improved to have more flowers or bigger flowers than their wild ancestors. But all plants were native (wild) somewhere, and many are considered weeds in their own country, but they're valued in other countries.
All this musing about weeds came about as I was weeding a large flower bed recently. Due to frequent rains, I hadn't been able to do it earlier, and it was getting quite weedy in places. This bed has mostly perennial plants, like lilies, daylilies and roses; but last year, I put in a few plants of spiderlegs (cleome). Weeding the bed this year was pulling up a few sprigs of grass and plantain, but hundreds of small cleomes. That day, I certainly called them weeds!
Each cleome plant makes a lot of seeds, and it's difficult to keep them all picked off so they can't fall to the ground and self-sow the following year. Some other annuals that do likewise are, cosmos, coxcomb, touch-me-not, larkspur and Sweet William. But none are so generous with their seeds as cleome. I still want to have these annuals, but not in flower beds that have to be weeded by hand. I now grow them in the vegetable garden without any problem, because cultivation and mulching keep them under control. After the first tilling in the Spring, these flower seedlings pop up here and there in the garden, but they're never as thick as in the flower bed. The tilling buries most of them too deep. We leave a few among the vegetables and destroy the rest, just like any other weed.
The dictionary says a weed is "a plant not valued where it is growing". I like that definition because it doesn't call a weed a worthless plant, just one growing where it isn't valued. I don't plan to get rid of all these self-sowing flowers, because it's nice to have some come up all by themselves, with no effort on my part. If there are too many, I just hoe them down or transplant some to a location where they're wanted.
Questions and comments can be sent to Thursy Baker at RR 2, Box 189, Branchland, WV 25506-9751; all letters answered
www.lincolnjournalinc.com
Ask half a dozen people to define a weed, and you'll get half a dozen different answers. We all know what weeds are, in our own minds; but it's not so easy to say in just a few words. And, besides, one person's weeds may be another's wildflowers. A wildflower mix may contain yarrow, oxeye daisies and ironweed. Here in the country, they're considered weeds in pastures and fields, but they're wildflowers and they are pretty in bloom.
Some plants considered weeds here in America are cultivated as desirable flowers in other countries. Actually, when we stop to think about it, we realize all plants are wild somewhere in the world, or at least started out that way. Some of them have been improved to have more flowers or bigger flowers than their wild ancestors. But all plants were native (wild) somewhere, and many are considered weeds in their own country, but they're valued in other countries.
All this musing about weeds came about as I was weeding a large flower bed recently. Due to frequent rains, I hadn't been able to do it earlier, and it was getting quite weedy in places. This bed has mostly perennial plants, like lilies, daylilies and roses; but last year, I put in a few plants of spiderlegs (cleome). Weeding the bed this year was pulling up a few sprigs of grass and plantain, but hundreds of small cleomes. That day, I certainly called them weeds!
Each cleome plant makes a lot of seeds, and it's difficult to keep them all picked off so they can't fall to the ground and self-sow the following year. Some other annuals that do likewise are, cosmos, coxcomb, touch-me-not, larkspur and Sweet William. But none are so generous with their seeds as cleome. I still want to have these annuals, but not in flower beds that have to be weeded by hand. I now grow them in the vegetable garden without any problem, because cultivation and mulching keep them under control. After the first tilling in the Spring, these flower seedlings pop up here and there in the garden, but they're never as thick as in the flower bed. The tilling buries most of them too deep. We leave a few among the vegetables and destroy the rest, just like any other weed.
The dictionary says a weed is "a plant not valued where it is growing". I like that definition because it doesn't call a weed a worthless plant, just one growing where it isn't valued. I don't plan to get rid of all these self-sowing flowers, because it's nice to have some come up all by themselves, with no effort on my part. If there are too many, I just hoe them down or transplant some to a location where they're wanted.
Questions and comments can be sent to Thursy Baker at RR 2, Box 189, Branchland, WV 25506-9751; all letters answered
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