Question of the Day: Sunday, June 18

[gilmargl]

Good morning everybody!

Looking out onto my terrace, I see an assortment of garden flowers and wild flowers, commonly called weeds.

At least here in Germany we are being educated about the added value of wild flowers, particularly with regards to the declining number of insects and birds. According to experts, dandelions should no longer be banned from the garden.
As a child I used to love walking through fields such as this one (picture thanks to Pixabay). But, I'm not sure about encouraging dandelions in my garden.

Would you like to see more wild flowers and fewer cultivated varieties in parks and gardens?

As far as I am concerned, yes! So long as our cultivated varieties can still be seen in public places, it would be far less work for me and seeing my rosebushes turning into their natural state would not be such a disaster.
Dog roses are pretty, resistant and so easy to maintain. I know, I've managed to encourage a few bushes - unintentionally! (Photo thanks to Pixabay)

 

[muffy]

Sure if it will help the birds and the bees.

 

[Mia6]

yes

 

[denice]

I grew up on a farm so I do like wildflowers. I don't know if they are still sold but here in the U.S. we used to be able to get these strips that were 2 or 3 feet wide. You could just roll it out, water it and a variety of wildflowers would grow from this strip.

 

[misty8723]

Absolutely!
I felt really bad having to mow my law because the bees were enjoying the clover.
I think some of the "weeds" are as pretty/prettier as the flowers we plant.
There is a company in the area plants what they call "Piedmont Prairies." I really wish they would allow us to plant these and not worry so much about grass.

 

[Jem]

I'm all for it...and certainly try to do my part. We try to avoid mowing the lawn for the month of May to help all the critters get the first crop of food from dandelions and other "weeds". Our city even encourages what they call "No Mow May", not everyone partakes, because some people still think that perfect green weed free grass is the way to go, but we have other things that are a priority. Thankfully we are in a neighborhood where the majority of people don't have that "perfect lawn", who also put off mowing in May, so we don't have to feel bad about having an un kept lawn in the spring and being "those neighbors" with the neighborhood eye sore.
I have way too many flower beds that I haven't been able to keep up with so I just gave up on some of them and they've been growing wild for a few years now. They still look quite pretty. Lush and green with splashes of random color...my perennials are still in there too and they've been growing back every year without my help. Now don't get me wrong, I do want to clean them up someday, but it's all good in the meantime. I also started to get wild raspberry growing in one of my flower beds...I just left it...I figured in a few years I'll get some raspberries out of them, but until then, the critters can have the little crops that grow.
I find most wild flowers and weeds to be very pretty and have thought about spreading wild flower seeds in my ditches. Mowing ditches is a pain in the butt and if they had a nice blanket of wild flowers in them, we wouldn't have to mow them anymore.

And on the financial side of things...think of how much the city would save of our hard earned taxes if they planned better and used native wild flowers, that come back every year for public spaces and didn't worry about maintaining certain strips of land and letting wild flowers grow instead. I get that it encourages small critters and rodents to take up residence but not all of our city owned "lawn" areas are right next to residential buildings....and besides, the more outdoor spaces for critters that have food, the less likely they will try to find shelter and food in houses...well...hopefully.

 

[catapault]

Let's see . . . dandelions, the white ox-eye daisies, clover (honeybees too) are not native. They came over with European settlers, settled in, became naturalized.

Poison ivy is an attractive native plant, berries are good bird food (which is how they get moved to new locations.) Grows in shade, good fall color, really not welcome in my garden.

USDA introduced - on purpose - multiflora roses and kudzu both are two thugs of the first order.

Then there are accidental introductions such as Japanese honeysuckle, garlic mustard, Japanese stilt grass -

I could go on and on.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I've wanted to have a section of my yard dedicated to native plants and prairie grasses to cut down on the mowing (my yard is half an acre), but creeping charlie is a huge problem in my yard so I'd worry that that annoying plant would just take over everything. I'd also worry that my dogs would trample everything before it got established.

 

[iPappy]

The only weeds I really mess with are thistles. I hate them, and they hate me. I think a field of dandelions is beautiful. I don't spray or destroy them, it's bee food! I have a ton of milkweed in my yard that I don't cut down, and I see butterflies (monarchs, as well as other varieties) all over. I love it.

 

[neely]

We have a corner of our yard where I planted perennials but they've disappeared over the years and different weedlike plants have grown in their place. My husband said he likes to look out and see greenery whether wild or cultivated.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I love them all. I think there’s space for both. I noticed a lot more wildflowers along the interstate on a recent trip too. I’ve got this dream of having a country property big enough to have a long wildflower garden but still have my house at a distance because I’ve had allergic reactions to bee stings.

What I don’t want is these gnarly weeds that have no flower but grow to +6 feet in one summer. Those don’t benefit my gardens and they are super creepy taking over whole fields.

 

[Margot Lane]

”O let it be left, wildness and wet. Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet!” -Gerard Manley Hopkins.

 

[strider rose]

yes i would . i love flowers of all varieties

 

[mani]

Let's see . . . dandelions, the white ox-eye daisies, clover (honeybees too) are not native. They came over with European settlers, settled in, became naturalized.

Poison ivy is an attractive native plant, berries are good bird food (which is how they get moved to new locations.) Grows in shade, good fall color, really not welcome in my garden.

USDA introduced - on purpose - multiflora roses and kudzu both are two thugs of the first order.

Then there are accidental introductions such as Japanese honeysuckle, garlic mustard, Japanese stilt grass -

I could go on and on.

Indeed. Weeds are just plants growing in the wrong place. Usually they overtake what should be there.
Wild flowers, on the other hand are meant to be there, and it's a joy to see them.
Over in Western Australia wild flowers flourish between July and October in areas that are usually barren. People go there just to see them

The incredible Wildflowers of Western Australia

The wildflowers of Western Australia are one of the most spectacular flower displays in the world. Between July and October, many parts of the state become […]

www.westaustralianexplorer.com

 

[di and bob]

I cultivate what i want, whether it be flowering weed or what I plant. i love slight disorder so wildflowers are welcome. Many of my 'flowers' are now weeds, they try to take over everything. I just pull out/hoe what i don't want and let some grow where I want them!

 

[catapault]

There are introduced plants that are good neighbors, weave themselves into the landscape. There are also plants that are outright thugs - multiflora roses are thorny demons that when established need a backhoe to remove. Kudzu is the vine that ate the South. Those are two exotics. Natives that I battle include shrub size, tap rooted poke weed. It is a judgement call and there are always differences of opinion. Some disparagingly called eco-nazis want only native plants. Too late for that. Human intervention has disrupted the landscape in ways that I fear are irreversible. Forests - we lost the American chestnut long ago, now ash are standing dead in the landscape. Oak leaf disease is slowly removing these forest giants. And I recently read that there is a beech leaf disease that is causing their slow decline.

 

[maggiedemi]

Would you like to see more wild flowers and fewer cultivated varieties in parks and gardens?

I don't care about flowers. But if they help the bees and birds then I'm all for whatever helps them. I will leave it to the experts though. I know nothing about flowers and really have no interest in growing them myself.

 

[fionasmom]

I am a little late with this, but the LA County Arboretum encourages the growth of all natural, drought resistant plants and has huge sections full of these types of plants. This is one part of an ongoing area that is allowed to grow freely. They do maintain it seasonally as plants die back.