Pretty weeds do not get my attention like they do for others. They look too much like weeds to me. If I want to appreciate them, I must do so with intention. Sometimes, I do actually try. I did happen to notice these two weeds. However, now that I got their pictures, I have no use for either of them. Neither is readily useful for the gardening column. I will just share them here.
The yellow flower pictured above is most likely prickly lettuce. I really do not know. I know it as yellow chicory; but chicory does not bloom yellow. Some people think of it as dandelion, since the flowers are similar. These flowers stand much higher though, with only minimal foliage below. For the picture, I plucked this flower and stuck it in the ground to keep it still in the breeze.
The white flower pictured below is common bindweed. When I was a kid, I knew it as morning glory. In this close up picture, it looks like a fancier garden variety of morning glory, although the flower is much smaller. Real morning glory happens to look good in white, like this one does. If it is fragrant, I have never noticed. It tends to creep along the ground more than it climbs.
It sometimes seems silly to me that others so easily notice how pretty weeds such as these are, especially while there are so many more flowers that are prettier. Then, I realize what others must think of what I consider to be pretty. For example, the pollarded blue gum with aromatic blue foliage that I enjoy so much, is the same species that gives all eucalypti a bad reputation.
Besides, these flowers were the prettiest in the otherwise bare meadow where I found them.
Love the one you’re with!? I have some weeds I like..
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It would be easier if I were not a horticulturist who considers weeds to be unwanted.
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Oh, Tony…weeds, wildflowers whatever.
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Well, most would agree. I find weeds a bit more difficult to accept.
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There are some very pretty weeds. I always regretted it when I let them grow.
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Oxalis (yellow wood sorrel) stayed in a patch in my front garden because a neighbor liked it, but will never be eradicated now. That is a weed I should have controlled while I had the chance!
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I looked up bindweed to make sure we were talking about the same thing. The foliage on yours that I could see was different. It is a vigorous climber here–crawling up anything available to climb. But I did see some pictures of it on the ground when I looked it up, making me realize that it stays on the ground when there is nothing to climb up. That yellow flower looks like it might have been on a prickly sow thistle…
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Yes, the yellow flowers are very similar to prickly sowthistle. The stem is very wiry, and the foliage is basal though.
Bindweed commonly grows on the ground here because it likes to be out in open spaces where there is not much to climb. It seems odd that a climbing vine prefers to be out in the open, but they must know what they are doing.
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The ages old debate–is something a weed or a wildflower? I do enjoy a nice display of wildflower-weeds alongside the roads this time of year, when the chicory and Queen Anne’s lace bloom together and the ditch lilies are abundant. I love the wild mustard and dame’s rocket in the late spring, and the goldenrod at the end of summer.
The bindweed we have here has glossier leaves. It is a royal PIA if it gets in the garden, winding around and attaching itself to everything in its path. I definitely classify it as a WEED!
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Yes, I hear of how bad bindweed is in other regions. I believe that there must be a few species that behave sort of similarly, but that some are more aggressive than other.
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Chicory and Queen Anne’s Lace are pretty weeds. I like them by the roadside, but pull them in the garden.
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Goodness, I can not believe that I actually sowed seed for chicory once. I did not know that it was about the same as what grows wild in some spots.
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