Weeds? What makes a weed?

@ellie333 (21016)
May 25, 2010 5:36pm CST
I have some really pretty weeds growing in my garden but to me they are lovely, some have lovely white flowers and others have pretty pink ones. So how can they be a weed when they are part of the beauty of nature. I leave them I don't pull them up the same as daisies, I leave them be. What about you, do you grow only what is considered a flower for the garden or have you got some wild life growing too.? Huggles Ellie :D
3 people like this
19 responses
@Darkwing (21583)
26 May 10
For some strange reason, we regard some wild flowers as weeds, when they are not only wild flowers but also, in many cases, herbs or plants containing medicinal properties. We only consider them as weeds when they grow so profusely that they take over, surely. I have a lot of aquilegia in my garden, which started as weeds and are largely regarded as weeds, but I've collected the seeds over time, and cultivated them because I think they're beautiful. (I've added a picture). There are so many colours, from a cream, a candy pink and cream, going through dusky pink, lilac and purple to a very deep purple.. almost black. The flowers are beautiful, but very rampant, so I have to split them at times, and replant them. Lots of people go more for a wild garden than a cultivated one, because wild flowers attract butterflies, bees and birds, besides looking good. I also grow bluebells and have some fern in the garden and have loads of heathers, which could be regarded as a "weed" or wild flower. Wild flowers are also more hardy than the ones which are cultivated in greenhouses, and they don't need any attention. Having said all that though, I would definitely steer clear of some... like the bindweed and deadly nightshade, but nettles and dandelions are very welcome, as they provide herbal cures, tea and salads. Sure... leave them where they are, if you enjoy them, my friend... as nature intended. Brightest Blessings, my dear friend.
@Darkwing (21583)
26 May 10
Purple Aquilegias - I have many different coloured aquilegias growing in my garden.
Forgot the picture... lol. Must be the hair!
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• India
26 May 10
even i am intrested to grow all these things but i dont have enough space in my garden
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Rajeshbabu, I also have a very small garden but do have an area at the back that I can grow things. Ellie :D
26 May 10
rajeshbabu, i know people who grow all manner of things just on a balcony! u can use hanging baskets, tubs, pots, window boxes and grow bags to suit for fruit , veg and flowers! give it a grow and surprise yourself and your neighbours! you want any help then let me know xx
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@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
5 Jun 10
Right now it's a constant battle between me and the damn weeds, no matter how dry or wet the weather is they grow! Grow faster than my vegetables which I have put in, I dug a big plot of land to grow vegetables and the weeds are growing faster, as quick as I pull the damn things out, up they grow again, I pull the roots but still they come with a vengeance. We have a massive garden so when it's just me doing the gardening, it's like never ending, as soon as one patch is clear, I go and do another patch and the patch I have just cleared is smothered with weeds. Loads of wild life indeed, may look pretty but they are taking the goodness away from Wolfies veggies LOL! Damn sticky stuff makes me itch and it's hayfever time too. We have these tall yellow flowering weeds that come up, nice colour but they too grow with a vengeance and high too! What makes a weed a weed? Well whatever the weather it will grow LOL! Even through frost and snow, shame the same can't be said about my prize veg ;0)
@ellie333 (21016)
5 Jun 10
Oh Wolfie bless you darling and your Battle Of The Weeds! Send em my way as my garden is that small and enclosed nothing grows but weeds although recently I have some real flowers too. Thats a good definition as yes they do grow where nothing else will and in whatever climate. Think of all the extra exercise the gradening gives you too though as I know you like a good workout. I haven't any yellow weeds just white and pink but have pulled some of the pink today as they irritate when they mature. Huggles. Ellie :D
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
25 May 10
I do my best to pull out anything that creates stickers. There are the "begger's lice" stickers and the "sticker clover" and I'm sure there are others, but those two I know on sight!
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@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
26 May 10
they aren't ugly when they are at this stage, only become a problem later
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Elicbxn, Luckily the only weeds I have I think are pretty ones so I let them stay. Huggles. Ellie :D
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@tessah (6617)
• United States
27 May 10
i let grow what grows.. unless its in my veggie garden and will choke out what ive planted. odd as it may sound.. i love dandelions.. weed or not, theyre pretty, edible.. and downright very healthy for ya. i adore daisies.. and clover.. even golden rod and milkweed.
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@ellie333 (21016)
27 May 10
Hi Tesah, It doesn't sound odd at all, remember its me ya telling lol. O love dandelions too and so do my rabbits! The pink weed flowers I have are horestail so I will pull before they mature as can leave a nasty rash but they are on the back banking, rabbits can't get to as not sure if edible to them. Can also understand removing from the veggie section as nutrients for veg will be robbed, I would do that too but my yard not really that big so don't grown my own yet, although have some carrots and some lettuce begininning in my sons very small greenhouse. Huggles. Ellie :D
@elvira1 (101)
• Philippines
26 May 10
A weed is anything that grows with your crops/plants. They usually compete with your plants for nutrients and all. :) When I see "lovely" weeds in my garden, I sometimes save them but I eventually pull them out.
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Elvira, Thanks for the definitation, as nothing much grows in my garden except the pretty weeds I am quite happy to leave them although I have got some lovely rose bushes and lobelia or a few other proper plants growing too now. Huggles. Ellie :D
26 May 10
it's strange that some gardeners class different plants as weeds.. again on the allotment most people wrench out the poppies! they are wild poppies and frankly i dont mind them competing with all my produce! x
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@deebomb (15304)
• United States
26 May 10
A weed is a pant that is growing where you don't want it to. A lot of weeds are also eatable. Unless you spray your yard with herbicides you can harvest a salad from the lawn. My grandmother would harvest dandelion and lambs quarters before the garden was ready http://hsny.blogspot.com/2009/07/edible-weeds.html
@ellie333 (21016)
27 May 10
Hi Deebomb, my garden is very natural and my rabbits love dandelion leaves. Thank you for the link, very interesting. All my plants are growing where I want them too so I guess they are not weeds lol. Huggles. Ellie :D
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
26 May 10
hi ellie I was always the same way and now days a lot of what we used to call weeds have been refined and cultivated as flowers so just think of your pretty weedss as potential flowers. We had violet growing wild, creeping phlox and golden rod and they were so pretty also indian paint brush and bellflowers, they are wild flowers but can be tamed in your garden too.
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Hatley, I am no good with names of weeds or flowers but I hav had African violet growing in mune and I love it, I think I have some lobelia and marigolds don't know what the weed flowers are called but they pretty so I keep them. Hiuggles. Ellie :D
@savypat (20216)
• United States
26 May 10
A weed is anything growing where you don't want it to grow. I have some vinca, which is a very pretty ground cover and it's a terrible weed. Mostly we just let things grow where they are but when they start to take over sometimes we need to act.
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi SavyPat, Oh yes when they completely take over as my one with th pretty pink flower will do eventually and do pull some out from time to time, but whilst they are there and in colour and looking good and pretty I let them remain. Huggles. Ellie :D
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
26 May 10
I am not a gardener so weeding is not on my list of chores! We have them in our garden of course and, as you say they are not all bad, some are pretty daisies which my daughter picks for me all the time (LOL)! My husband gets rid of the nasty ones but the majority stay and yes, they are all part of nature and they don’t look so bad!
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Paulam I am not a gardener either but have got to the stage where the garden looks neat and is looking pretty with these wild flowers at the back and even a few so called real ones too lol. I don't have daisies on my grass but used to love making daisy chains from them when I was a girl. Huggles. Ellie :D
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
26 May 10
Isn't it funny how the weeds are sometimes prettier than the flowers you have planted? I find this to be true a lot lately. I go to pull a weed and I have to remember what the flower i want looks like. I'm afraid I'll pull my flower out of the ground and leave the weed behind.
@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Sender, Yes I find this strange at times too and as I am not a gardener really haven't a clue which is which but if they are pretty I let them stay if ugly I pull up. Huggles. Ellie :D
26 May 10
A weed is just a plant that grows without you wanting it to. last year I planted a really pretty weed in a container and it spilled out over the sides in a lovely white bloom. Some of the prettiest places I have ever seen are over run with wild flowers and weeds.
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Beautyfactor, I also find this, I love my little white flower weeds too. Huggles Ellie :D
@sallyj (1225)
• United States
26 May 10
To me a weed is anything that is growing where i do not want it. Some weeds are so lovely that i have picked the flowers they produce to dry and preserve.
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Sally, That is a good way of looking at it, not much of anyrhing used to grow in my garden but it is looking pretty at present with lots of colour including the pink and white flowered so called weeds lol. Huggles. Ellie D
26 May 10
i agree to some degree.. when i was little i despaired when the daisies buttercups and pretty blue flowers were mown along with the lawn! i still leave them if i can! i dont even mind most of the weeds on the allotment! my only real dislike is horsetail as i get a violently itchy rash from it when it matures! even chickweed is meant to be a rabbit delicacy! as hard as i've tried cant find any rhyme or reason for nettles or thistles tho! x
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Wendie so you don't little my pretty pink flower lol, I will pull before it matures to guarantee no rash, best get me some chickweed for the rabbits too! Not that I would know what it was. I can imagine you despairing as a child all the pretty daisies and buttercups being mown bless. Huggles. Ellie :D
@Madruga (137)
• Romania
25 May 10
Oh sure not . I wait for the weed to get done , and then I pull it off . I don't mind see in all that weed in my garden . Actually I like weed more than daisies . Weed are part f the beauty of nature . You are right . It makes you feel like living in wild places . Especially if that weed is being taken care of like all other flowers . Let the be free and justice for all the flowers in the garden . Long live the weed :D !
• United States
25 May 10
I think wild flowers are very pretty. Even if they're considered weeds, who said so? Weeds are not attractive like the flowers you describe. In California the wild flowers (lots of poppies) dot the landscape in early spring. People drive for miles just to see them.
@ellie333 (21016)
25 May 10
Hi Joyce, yes that is a good question, who decides what are weeds and what aren't? The poppies sound wonderful, I would love to be able to see fields of them. Huggles. Ellie :D
25 May 10
Hi ellie, My garden is a little wild, I have grown a lot of shrubs and rose trees and the look lovely also I have got those weeds flowers, blue ones as well and one day my friend was just about to pull some out when I screamed at her not to, she said its only weeds, but I said I like them, so leave them alone, she thougt I was nuts, LOL! love and hugs. Tamara xxxx
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@ellie333 (21016)
25 May 10
Hi Tamara, Your garden is like you then a little wild child lol. I can just imagine you screaming at your friend not to pull the weeds that we both consider pretty flowers. Huggles. Ellie :D
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
26 May 10
Hi ellie! I don't have a garden, but know exactly what you mean! I have had gardens before and have seen the same things! I hate to pull "weeds" that have flowers too! I used to just leave them if they looked "pretty"! I guess that's because I wasn't a "real gardener" to begin with and just loved to see the pretty flowers and whatever grew I was happy with! Oh, well now that I can't have a garden I really miss it!
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Opal, If they are pretty with flowers they stay even though to others they are weeds, I like them which is what matters eh! Give the horrid back wall some colour. Huggles. Ellie :D
@doormouse (4599)
25 May 10
i thought that weeds were just unwanted leafy things,but aparantly they are just wild flowers that end up your garden,i like some of them,giant poppies are my favourite,in my old garden i didn't know what were weeds and what were flowers that i'd planted,so i decided that if they were pretty then they stayed,and if they were ugly they went
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@ellie333 (21016)
26 May 10
Hi Doormouse, That is exactly what I do and I love my pink and white so called weeds on the back wall of my garden. Huggles. Ellie :D