More than once lately, I’ve been asked to define
‘weed’…..We USED to say it’s
“any plant we have no use for”……then
we added “Yet”…….
Over the years I’ve fine-tuned MY definition
to “any plant who DECIDES where it is going to
come up and sets up housekeeping and FLOURISHES”.
There ya go. Independent brats, these WEEEEEEEDS. But
they have a lot to teach us about persistence, adaptability,
being a SURVIVOR.
The more we brutalize and just trash this blessed planet
of ours, the LOUDER the weeds try to teach us of these
things. The whole thing plays out as the MowMen do their
jobs and keep cutting all the roadside plants to the
same HEIGHT. All the interesting plants give up and
leave and the real cockroaches/earth-healing plants
(bittersweet, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, mugwort)
catch their breath and come roaring back with a VENGEANCE.
I had an altercation with one of the MowMen as much
as someone can, speaking from a car to a guy with weed-whacker.
He was LEVELING a wonderful stand of Wildflowers behind
a shopping mall, BEYOND the guard rail. It WAS the most
beautiful river of Queen Anne’s lace, little thistles,
Chicory, Bird’s foot trefoil, red clover, white
sweet clover, goldenrods and yes, St John’s wort.
I had my eye on two BIG stands of it.
I’ve been duking it out with these clowns for
my whole 30 year career as a professional gardener.
I knew enough not to shriek, “What the HELL are
you DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” As calmly as I was able,
I managed to JUST find enough voice to ask WHY someone
had asked him to DO that. The answer was “We do
it every year”. No, no way, man. These things
BLOOMED last year. He said well, yeah, they STOPPED
back THERE last time. I tried to explain that this was
one of the BEST stands of Wildflowers in the county,
and they’re not bothering ANYbody, and BY THE
WAY…..Do you know what you’re STANDING in
there? Saint John’s wort. The Whack-Monger shrugged.
I was in such a frustrated RAGE I was losing my voice.
So my parting volley was to ask him to TELL his supervisor
that ONE person was utterly HEARTBROKEN that they were
doing that. And I drove off. I accomplished NOTHING.
He finished his JOB. Weeks later I went back again.
The bittersweet looked like a Street Gang hanging out
with the Poison Ivy. The bird’s foot trefoil made
a comeback and Queen Anne REFUSED to be dethroned…..but
St John LEFT. Not one single leaf came back. Hypericum
is LIKE that. I’ve seen it happen and I’ve
seen others write of it. When the wildness of a place
is dishonored, Hypericum up and LEAVES.
Mugwort/Cronewort is one of my FAVES. She’s just
a protest march with roots. Marches RIGHT up the edge
of the pavement and DARES anyone to try to take her
down. And they DO take her down and she roars RIGHT
up again. Big surprise she’s called Cronewort.
More and more it feels like it’s up to us women
with silver leaf undersides to knit our roots together
and HANG ON. Somewhere Susun noted that the emergence
of Mugwort/Cronewort, Artemesia vulgaris, tells we haven’t
trashed it all YET.
Lots of purists howl and holler about barberry taking
over our forests, bittersweet climbing and choking our
trees (notice how it can also turn a dead utility pole
into a LIVING tree), the uselessness that is a lawn
being INVADED with a mineral-rich, liver-tonic called
dandelion. The fact is, WE are creating an ENVIRONMENT
where only the scrappy weeds CAN survive….We poison
everything including our own livers and the world sprouts
dandelions. We destroy trees at a totally alarming rate
and bittersweet turns ANY structure back into trees.
We compact the soil and Plantain gives us Mother Nature’s
bandaids. We won’t stop building McMansions on
every square foot of ground and that ground SCREAMS
in Poison Ivy. We spend gazillions of dollars on Arthritis
meds when the answer may just be in Goldenrod oil. Right
there on the roadside. The cure for Lyme disease could
be right beneath the roadside Teasels.
So NOW what do we do?
I’ve thought about getting folks to put red yarn
on plants they care about that are in harm’s way:
the Elderbushes, the Joe Pye Weeds. It may not STOP
the MowMen, but it might tangle up their weed whackers.
I’ve noticed that once I introduce a person to
one of our Valued Weeds, like, say, Mullein, they begin
to see it EVERYwhere. If the world MUST have neat roadsides,
for goddess’ sake PLANT COLTSFOOT. Daylilies SEEMED
like a grand idea, but I saw them taken off at the knees
in FULL bloom.
But beyond that, I think it’s important to know
that every time you acknowledge our roadside friends,
all their brothers and sisters FEEL that. So go say
good morning to the Goldenrod! Kiss a dandelion and
wear the yellow pollen on your nose. Nurture your Queen
Anne’s Lace like it was an expensive nursery perennial.
Deadhead the spent blooms and she’ll keep going
through October (in the eastern US), Show a little kid
how to use a Plantain leaf on a mosquito bite.
Introduce your Friends to your friends.
Blessings, LadyB