Everybody needs a weed...

Chickory

No, I didn't suggest you needed weed. Gee people, it's still illegal in some states! 

This is a post about weeds. The kind that drive most gardeners nuts. If you're not into gardening, health, the medicinal properties of plants, this is gonna bore you big time. 

I've been on a binge when it comes to expanding, growing, cleaning, creating in my garden during COVID. With the advent of sunny weather in my area I have been in the yard having some garden fun when the sun is shining no matter how cold it might be. 

When I'm not outside I have been on the computer quite a bit, wandering through garden sites, learning about shade plants, growing veggies and all that kinda stuff. I've also been going a bit overboard on ordering seeds. I had to slap my own wrist yesterday and make myself walk away from the computer, stop drooling over the cool plants. 

I ordered a ton of seeds. Way more than I'll ever be able to grow. Now I'm adding new beds to house some of my cool new seeds. I'm cleaning out and extending other beds. Which leads me to weeds...

I'm great at growing weeds. If I were judged on my gardening skills by how many weeds I grow in my yard I'd be top of the heap, a-number-one. I'm also pretty good at growing grass in my flower beds. Not so hot about the grass growing in the rest of the yard. Fertilizer and care might help.

As I've been pulling out some of the weeds from the beds I've noticed that some look really cool. Some have pretty little flowers. I felt bad killing the things. 

I got curious and started trying to find out what they were. Imagine my surprise (chagrin) when I found out I had just ordered seeds for, sigh, one of my weeds. Yep, yours truly ordered chickweed and yours truly has it growing like wildfire all over the place. 

Dandelion

Next I found Creeping Thyme out around my lilies. At least I hadn't ordered seeds.

Now I'm on a mission to identify all of my weeds. 

I already know I love dandelion and that I have plenty. I am going to put in a small patch of them to keep the lawnmowers from destroying this healthy weed. And I have purslane, which is edible. I used to pull it up like, um, a weed. Now I let it go and grow. It is a great one to have around in the event of a Zombie apocalypse.

Flipping back to chickweed... The reason I ordered the seeds is because it has medicinal properties. Even though it clearly identifies itself as a weed (for chicks?) in its name it escaped my attention that it was a weed. Ditto for Joe Pye Weed. Yes, I ordered it and no, I haven't found it in the yard. Yet.

Once I starting delving into weeds I found that many of them are prized as cures or help for various ailments. I also learned that some of the "herbs" I order in bulk for my health teas are called weeds by many. Hmph. I was a bit surprised to see things like Daisies on the weed list.

Red Clover

Soooo, of course I had to go find out why certain pretty and often beneficial plants were called "weeds". I "assumed" all of these years that once a weed always a weed, that all weeds were to be pulled up and destroyed, and that they were noxious, horrible things. 

Wrong. 

Weeds are simply plants that are not valued in the places they are growing, typically grow vigorously, and sometimes choke out plants that are considered more valuable. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weed) Hence, daisies can be a weed. Something loved by some can be despised as a weed by others. I'm betting my Obedient Plants are considered weeds by some. (Just had a thought --- I need to do some research on "invasive plants". I keep coming across that when I'm considering buying a plant or seeds and it usually stops me from clicking 'purchase'. Some are invasive in one clime but not in another, which just speaks to native plants vs imported --- like kudzu, the bane of the South.)

I have decided that I am going to love my weeds. I'll keep them away from right around my flowers so they don't choke them out, and may move them to the woods or elsewhere, but I'm not pulling them up, dang, I have to write this..."like weeds".

I bet if I put them in little pots I could sell them when they're blooming. Who wouldn't want something called Purple Dead Nettle? :-)

Here's a list of weeds with medicinal qualities that I've found thus far:

• Burdock
  
• Chickweed*
• Chicory*
• Cleavers#
• Common Mallow
• Creeping Charlie (ground ivy)
• Curry Dock
  
• Daisies
• Dandelion#
• Jewelweed (I want this one)
  
• Kudzu
• Lambsquarter
• Mint*
• Mullein#
  
• Plantain
• Purple Dead Nettle
  
• Purslane* (I have this growing all over, already knew it was a good one)
• Red Clover
• Self Heal*
  
• Stinging Nettle
• St. John's Wort *
  
• Violets
• Wood Sorrel
• Yarrow*

*I either have or I ordered seeds
#I buy in bulk and make teas

If you'd like to know more about chickweed's medicinal properties: https://www.verywellhealth.com/chickweed-what-should-i-know-about-it-89437

More about the benefits of Purslane: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/purslane