Apifera Farm - where art, story, animals & woman merge. Home to artist Katherine Dunn

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©Katherine Dunn.





Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Perspective on weeds



I learned a wonderful lesson years ago, that you can't always change a person or a situation, but you can change your perspective on it. This is a handy skill and attitude for getting through life, so full of things we have no control over, be it a crappy neighbor or a lost love.

Perhaps then, some people might change their perspective on weeds. I wondered why some living plants are designated weeds, and some are cultivated and given the term 'flower'. And if weeds have a bad rap, those labeled 'invasive' have it even worse.

Martyn begrudgedly allowed me to interweave Queen Anne's Lace into our front perennial bed. Oh I can hear some of you purists smirking. Keep in mind we have a water free garden, except for getting new starts going the first year. And yes, they do take over, but they look so lovely mixed in with the grasses and the Globe Thistle. I think if I were to be a weed, I might be a Queen Anne's Lace - they have various shapes and colors as they go through the season, are unafraid to stand up and be seen, but also fit in in a field of fallen grasses, surrounded by cats.

The weeds don't need our sympathy- they are much stronger than that, or they wouldn't be so dreaded by so many people, and they wouldn't still be living on earth. They are the plant form of the rat.

And rats are just big mice, but that's whole 'nother post.