When I was a kid, I was the Outcast…the tall, gawky Nerd with glasses, the kid who got picked on.  Maybe that’s why I kinda like weeds which are definitely the Outcasts of the garden.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like all weeds!  Callery (Bradford) pear trees, kudzu, garlic mustard, Japanese stiltgrass, and Autumn olives, just to name a few, are weeds I will pull up or cut down without compunction (in fact, I rather enjoy it).

However, there are other weeds of which I’m rather fond:  dandelions, butterweed, daisy fleabane, purslane, plantain are good guys or at least harmless plants who simply are in the wrong place or unappreciated.

Types of Unappreciated Weeds

Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) besides being pretty, is completely edible – from root to flower.  Did I mention they are pretty?  Did I mention they provide nectar and food for pollinators and small mammals?  And, making a wish, then blowing on the seed heads is a childhood magical moment – it’s worth letting them grow just to see your grandson make a wish.

Butterweed (Packera glabella) is a native wildflower, germinating and flowering well before the farmers are ready to plant their fields, covering the fields with beautiful bright yellow.  Plus, they provide nectar for pollinators.  I deliberately let butterweed volunteers grow in my garden this spring – in part for the pollinators, but mostly because I love their bright yellow blooms (see the photo above).  I’ll pull them out before they set seed.

Daisy fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) also provides nectar for pollinators and forage for some small mammals; its leaves can be used as greens.

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is another unappreciated plant.  It can be used in salads, soups or eaten raw – very nutritious, with omega-3 fatty acids.

Plantain (Plantago major) may be Royalty among weeds, having edible leaves and possible medicinal value.

Are weeds that bad?

Maybe, we should do the research and learn what our ancestors knew.  Why waste time and resources trying to eradicate “good” weeds?

Maybe, just maybe, we could adjust our thinking and accept dandelions, purslane, plantain and other weeds as part of a well-kept, suburban lawn?  Wouldn’t that be kind of amazing?  Instead of planting, applying fertilizer, then herbicides, irrigating, spending lots of money and being a slave to the lawn only to create a sterile monoculture of grass which is a food desert for almost everything, could we start accepting and taking pride in plant diversity in our lawns?

Let’s focus on the real bad guys; the plants imported from elsewhere (intentionally or unintentionally), which really don’t belong and which are destroying complete ecosystems.