Most people hate weeds, maybe with an exception for Cannabis. I don’t like weeds either but as I turn our little garden patch back to nature, to make it into a sanctuary for other species as well as ourselves, I have to learn to get along with weeds. When I walk through a farmer’s market, I also note that they sell many flowers we usually call weeds. Quite expensively too, for something you would like to get rid of. So, it’s still true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Pollinators love weeds. There is no doubt about it as we try to eliminate them but they continue to proliferate with help from pollinators. Many of these weeds are also edible and have medicinal properties. As I’ve gained more knowledge about them, my perception has changed drastically and I have made room for them in the garden.
Here’s to beautiful weeds…
Queen Anne’s Lace is loved by many pollinators. I have a patch of them and they look like snow in summer.Chicory flowers change color from sky blue to lavender blue as it ages. Roots can be used as a coffee substitute.I let CommonMilkweed grow mainly for Monarch butterflies but I realized that honeybees love it. It also has very sweet fragrance. The downside is that it can spread not just by seeds but suckers.I letWild roses(Rosa multiflora) grow along our property line as they are very thorny and can be trimmed into a hedge. With a strong clove scent and plenty of rose hips for birds, how can I ever deny its existence.If you let Morning glory set seeds, you’ll not be able to get rid of it. At least in my area winter helps kill them off but their seeds will grow next year. My solution is to dig them up and replant where I want them.Virgin’s Bower (Clematis Virginiana L.) is in the clematis family and bees love it. I don’t know how it gets into my garden. The first one grew in the area that my two dead clematis used to be in. I thought it was a seedling from one of the dead clematis. Since I wasn’t sure what it was, I let it grow until it flowered this year. Now ‘it’ has become ‘they’ because where ever the stem touch the ground it grows roots.I have plenty of White Clover (Trifolium repens) in the lawn and I have to be careful when to mow so I don’t cut down the flowers.Goldenrod(Solidago canadensis) is a late season food source for pollinatorsJewel weed(Impatiens pallida) is not just beautiful, it’s leaves also help sooth itchiness from poison ivy.Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) represents spring. I know that spring is surely here when the lawn explodes with this bright yellow flower and I can stop feeding the bees. It’s leaves and root are edible too.
There are more weeds growing in our garden than what I’ve mentioned above. I’m fascinated by the fact that many of them are edible. I have not tried them all except for wild Daylily and dandelion. I’m also surprised that many of the flowers and herbs in our area are considered weeds someplace else.
References:
Weeds of North America by Richard Dickinson and France Royer
Weeds of the Northeast by Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. DiTomaso
Edible Wild Plants: Wild Food From Dirt to Plate by John Kallas, PhD.
Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting,and Preparing EdibleWild Plants by Samuel Thayer
I thought of you when I wrote this post. I remembered you posted that you mow your lawn in the evening so you won’t mow the clovers while the bees still working on them.
Petals and Wings 
A weed is just a flower in the wrong place, say some. Your “weeds” look beautiful and are clearly performing some useful functions too.
I thought of you when I wrote this post. I remembered you posted that you mow your lawn in the evening so you won’t mow the clovers while the bees still working on them.
Awwww, thank you! Yes, this is true. I also left it for about a month without mowing at all and had all sorts of exciting things growing 🙂
I love weeds! Great post!
Thank you.