My wild Irish.....dandelion!?

Ever notice how little respect weeds get?  They're not mentioned by poets, sung in a song to one's beloved by the moonlight or on the cover of a coffee table garden book.  Even the name we assign them, "weeds", has a connotation of... ugh, disgusting.  Yes, these defiant soldiers and workhorses of mother nature can be, ummmmm, let's say a tad over zealous.  But they actually are villainized by humans to the point that we tend to overlook their virtues.

Nature abhors bare soil and actually one can see her point.  Bare soil is open to erosion, not good for the earth worms or bacteria and dries out too fast. Not to mention the mere fact that the earths' whole environment, of which we happen to live, depends on the many basic functions of plants.  ok, getting sidetracked.....so, before the slow growers like trees and shrubs can get big enough to do their thing, weeds fill in to protect the soil.  Think of them as the scab that protects the open wound.  Nature has a system down pat that we are just beginning to try to understand a small portion of. Weeds are a large part of the way nature restores her balance.  It would do us good to be still and observe. 

There is urgent research going on now to determine what is happening to our bee population.  The University of California at Berkley recently did a study of 1,000 different plants which were observed for bee activity.  Just 50 of the plants were native, but of that small amount, 80 percent of those were attractive to pollinators.  The remaining 950 plants, were non native and only 10 percent were attractive to pollinators!  That is a huge difference.  Bees are looking for plants that have pollen with a high protein content and with an emphasis on diversity of flowers.  More to the point, the bees prefer the gangly weed and it's flowers more than the manicured flower beds that we have color coordinated!  In observing nature we see that most plants have evolved for the main fact of attracting pollinators, quite the opposite of plant breeders whose main goal is ornamental.  It is worth noting that most herbs that we buy are still pretty basic and do attract bees when in flower.  An herb garden is also a good thing!

Here are a few of my favorite weeds....

Goldenrod and dandelions- They are 2 of my most favorites...... I'm going to take a whole other blog to write of their attributes!

  Daisy.  Seeds of daisies have been found that date to over 4,000 years ago.  Most of the modern cultivers, derive from the bellis perennis, or the common daisy.  Also known as the lawn daisy or English daisy.  The name daisy is from the Anglo Saxon daes eage, or days eye, referring to the plant opening up and closing with the sun.  Roman doctors would extract juice from the plant and use it to soak bandages in.  Henry VIII used it for stomach ailments and gout.  Research has been conducted using daisies for HIV therapy and also breast cancer.  Bees love it.  And who doesn't remember daisies as a kid!?

Purslane.  Portulaca oleracea.  There is also a portulaca sold at your nearest nursery, aka moss rose, that is a cousin to purslane but not the same plant.  Purslane has been around at least from the 7th century b.c. and is native to India.  Used as an herb for urinary and digestive tract ailments, it is also used as a fresh green, steamed or used in soups and stews.  It is the highest in omega 3 fatty acids of any leafy plant.  And has many of the same health benefits as salmon. Grown in gardens and eaten as a green in Europe and the East.  Seed companies are just beginning to carry the seeds here in the States.  Purslane is good to use as a companion plant as a mulch....it protects the soil while bringing up moisture and nutrients to aid surrounding plants.  Also drought tolerant.  We Americans are missing out big on this one.  One of the plants that I don't understand classified as a weed.  Spurge is commonly found growing near purslane naturally.  Spurge is poisonous but it is easy, easy to distinguish from purslane.

I could go on and on...clover...remember when lawns were full of it?  The seed companies use to add it to grass seed because as a legume it added nitrogen to the soil.  Which we all know that lawns are huge users of nitrogen.  A lawn full of clover was a standard of excellence in a lawn.  Times sure have changed.   Remember when we all used to be careful walking on the grass when clover was blooming because of the bees...I don't see many bees on the clover now.

I realize that for farmers, weeds can be detrimental.  There are even the naturalists that view many of the weeds as invasive.  What is natural?  Who picks?  Most of our beloved plants and trees come from overseas.  Honey bees are European. The problem lies in, we always go to the extreme one way or another.  A lawn that is weedless is not healthy.  In contrast, a field full of thistle is not either.  We need to learn a balance or I guess one day nature will balance it out herself, regardless.  Hopefully, we can pick a corner of the yard to let a few weeds come up or to repress the urge to spray the lawn and let the clover and dandelions thrive.  The bees and the Earth would be most appreciative.