The Joyful Botanist: Weeds are flowers too
Some of the most beautiful and useful plants are referred to as weeds. Adam Bigelow photo
Writing these columns for the last couple of years has brought me so much joy that I have decided to celebrate by changing the name of my writings to The Joyful Botanist. And nothing says launching a new name than launching a revolution while you’re at it. So, let’s start a revolution!
Let’s face it, native plants have bad marketing. They tend to be thought of as common, overlooked and all too often the plants will have the word “weed” in their name. Beautiful wildflowers like Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium spp.), jewelweed (Impatiens spp.) and the milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) who are vital to the survival of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), these beautiful wildflowers are all saddled with the word “weed” in their names.
Why would anyone want to let a bunch of weeds grow around their home. Why would anyone want to buy weeds at a nursery? Why would you pay to work with a landscape designer who fills your flower beds with weeds?
In our culture, “weed” is a bad word. It has negative connotations. Weeds are bad. We’ve tried for a long time to reframe or redefine how people think about the word “weed” without success, even with the many quotes used in memes like Emmerson’s virtuous attempt at reframing the definition of a weeds as, “A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” Or, the one from Winnie-the-pooh’s creator A.A. Milne that titles this essay, “Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”
Not to be an Eeyore, but that sentiment is not working. It’s not. As much as we try, when most people hear the word “weed” they respond negatively. So, instead of trying to change people’s minds about the word “weed” let’s substitute the word “weed” with the word “flower” for some of our favorite native plants.
Suddenly, Joe Pye weed becomes Joe Pye flower. Doesn’t that sound good? Jewelweed shines as jewelflower. And the so-called milkweeds — common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), purple milkweed (A. purpurea), and butterfly milkweed (A. tuberosa) all become common milkflower, purple milkflower, and butterfly milkflower instead.
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And who wouldn’t want to grow a milkflower? Or a Joe Pye flower? Or a New York Ironflower (Vernonia novaborascensis) for that matter? Hawkflower sounds much better than hawkweed for species of Hieracium. There are so many other great examples. Do any come to mind for you?
Maybe people who are thinking about using native plants in their landscape to help save the world from ecological collapse and biodiversity loss might be more easily encouraged if the plants they were buying weren’t called weeds. Wouldn’t you rather buy a flower than a weed?
While we’re at it, while we are joyfully reframing how we speak about native plants, let’s attach the word weed, with all of its negative connotations, onto the names of the invasive plants whose presence and spread outside of their evolutionary homes harm the forests around us. And as appropriate, “weed” can replace the country of origin that tends to make discussions of invasive plants sound xenophobic and racist.
Suddenly we get multiflora rose weed (Rosa multiflora), stiltgrass weed (Microstegium vivimeum), privet weed (Ligustrum spp.) burning bush weed (Euonymus alatus), bittersweet weed (Celastrus orbiculatus), and butterfly bush weed (Buddleia spp.) and these exotic invasive plants that cause harm in the ecosystem around us sound much easier to avoid planting and to remove from the landscape. Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) has already led this movement, as has the invasive knapweed (Centaurea spp.).
Like many ideas, there are some names that even the pretty flower addition won’t help. Plants like ragweed (Ambrosia spp.), pigweed (amaranthus spp.) and sneezeweeds (Helenium spp.) probably wouldn’t be helped by calling them ragflower, pigflower or sneezeflower. Might take more than a rebranding to reimagine those names as positives.
(The Joyful Botanist leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
