I’m taking a day off between two hectic weeks.
See you next time!
                                       Be curious! (and kind)

…over the fence, in a patch
Of dirt and concrete, grew
Short green weeds and leaves.

A place of Lala’s own.

“Hello, hello, friends.”
Lala whispered.
                                                From Lala’s Words
                        written and illustrated by Gracey Zhang
                                 Orchard Books/Scholastic, 2021

    My son-in-law is a science teacher whose first love (besides my daughter and my granddaughters) is botany. So I asked him for his recommendation on an app that does plant identification and uses non-toxic solutions for plants in trouble. I love the app he recommended and use it almost every day! 
    I took a picture of the little wild flower hugging the ground next to the sweet woodruff I planted several years ago. I asked for its ID, and it answered common yellow woodsorrel. Along with that dispassionate answer, I also discovered that it’s “mildly toxic to humans and pets if ingested.” It’s native to my area. It’s a pollinator magnet. And “considered a weed by gardeners.” Really?
    Now I wondered, what IS the difference between a flower and a weed?
    I searched many different sources that gave a variety of definitions for “weed,” “plant,”  “flower” and “garden.” I agreed with some and disagreed with others. 
    The question Who gets to decide, anyway? led me to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach webpage. Their bottom line summed it up for me. “No one species of plant is always considered a weed in all settings, and no species of plant is never considered a weed, although some species are more often growing where we don't want them than others!”
    A large variety of plants have thrived and died in the raised bed that my husband built for me several years ago behind our house. I’ve come to some conclusions from all that trial and error. Cucumbers won’t grow any bigger than my pinky finger no matter what. Oregano is only allowed in the garden if it lives in a pot. Black-eyed Susans like the side yard, not the raised bed. 
    Milkweed. Even though I know milkweed’s aggressive nature, I’ve tried several times to grow it. My local extension center gave away seeds a few years ago. They did not germinate for me. I bought a plant from a local nursery, but it was not really milkweed. True fact. My son-in-law gave me some starts one year. They did not thrive or attract monarchs. Monarchs love milkweed. It’s the only food source for the caterpillars. 
    I want to help them, but alas! Milkweed is not a plant for me. Then, the other day, I saw a monarch on my purple Liatris (Dense Blazing Star). They bloom right in time to provide adult monarchs the nectar they need to fuel their upcoming migration south. I forgave myself for my milkweed failure.
    Morning glories. They can overrun a garden. They’d engulf my whole yard if I let them. Then climb up my house and garage and probably my neighbors’ with their beautiful and bountiful royal purple blooms and their lush mass of leaves. They need to learn their boundaries. 
    Each year when the first twin-lobed leaves appear, I remind them to stay in their space. It’s a generous space with a built-in trellis at one end and plenty of room on the ground. I remind them to leave room for their neighbors, parsley and thyme. Even though they agree, sprouts appear as far away as the liatris. They try to hug the thorny rose bush, too.
    I apologize as I gently tug each stem. They apologize by readily releasing their tenuous hold on the earth. They know better; they just can’t help themselves. Even though they sprout up wherever they want to and constantly over-run their boundary, I would never call them weeds. 
    Now invasive species are a whole other issue. The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) maintains two lists. One is a list of invasives banned from commercial sale and distribution. The other is a list of Ohio’s Prohibited Noxious Weeds. Both of the lists are long. 
    According to the ODA, invasive plants “are not native to Ohio and whose introduction may cause harm.” My multiflora rose is on that list! Although I only discovered it (with my new app) this summer, it hasn’t bloomed. I thought I’d let it stay until I found out that birds eat the hips. That sounded good until I learned that they disperse the seeds as far as 20 miles away. The plants are aggressive. Very. Guess it needs to go. 
    We all know about kudzu. It’s what envelopes the shrubs, trees, and countryside along the highway and suffocates them. And water hyacinths (see “Water Hyacinths: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, 2/11/25).
    Although Queen Anne’s Lace started out as in invasive a couple of centuries ago and is the forerunner of modern carrots, according to some in the plant world, it’s been naturalized. You can even find them in floral arrangements. Queen Anne’s Lace is not poisonous, but some say it tastes yucky. (I did not taste it!) It’s easily confused with poison hemlock, according to Farmers' Almanac, the most poisonous plant in the eastern US., so my advise is not to taste it if you have some and decide to let them grow. The FA link (above) shows you how to tell the difference.
    So many more plants are on those (and other) lists. 
    I won’t call a flower or a plant a weed, no matter where it decides to grow or how aggressive it is, but some really are dangerous and are not allowed to live in my garden.
I’m almost half-way through The Calamity Club, (Kathryn Stockett. Spiegal & Grau, 2026). My take on that next week.
           Be curious! (and take time to smell all the flowers)