When we first attempt to create a wild garden how impatient we are with the weeds, only to realize later that many of them have their place. In fact it is not always easy to decide what is a, weed and what is a wild flower.
I remember how the jewel-weed used to infuriate me. I pulled it up by the roots and paid my grandchildren to help me clear it from the land. Then as the pines grew and the ferns came in we found it made a wonderful ground cover in the woods. We should be particularly grateful to the jewelweed for providing, near at hand, an antidote for poison ivy.
Blue And Pink
Two other humble but beloved weeds, at wild flowers, are the chicory or succory, and the bouncing bet, Saponaria officinalis. In August, when the first yellow leaves are starting to fall, the eye is caught by the sky blue color of the succory and the pale pink of the bouncing bet, growing together in masses along the roadside.
Another roadside flower which is a great favorite of mine is the tansy, Tanacetum vulgare. It is far more restrained in habit than the goldenrod or joe-pye weed, and think it should have a place somewhere among our wild flowers. Its beautifully cut green leaves are aromatic when pressed in the hand, and its yellow button flowers remind us a bit of the button chrysanthemum
The Old World put great faith in the medicinal powers of the tansy; thus, the early settlers brought it with them when they came to this country. Tansy tea was supposed to cure every ill that flesh is heir to. Cole’s Art of Simpling published in 1656 assures maidens that tansy leaves laid to soak in buttermilk for nine days makes the complexion very fair.
by R Grew – 61915
