Perversity Of Plants
Why is it that some plants do not do well in places one chooses for them and others pop up in magnificent shape when unbidden? We sometimes call serendipitous ones volunteers, the undesirable are interlopers or weeds. I am excluding the semi-infinite number of weeds in lawns. I have a friend whose large lawn, while a continuous swath of green, even has some grasses in it. He is totally unconcerned as to what gives it its color. Whatever is low and slow growing is welcome. Weeds are obviously in the mind of the beholder.
When my middle son Jim was in high school he became enamored with wild Geraniums growing in the nearby park. He scattered their seeds around the house near the foundation. For the next decade I was pulling out the plants. To me they were weeds. He might have taken his cue from his sister Ann. She, on a lark, squished a Puffball into my terrarium. She was disappointed when none of the millions of spores developed into puffballs. These mushrooms got their name by the "puff" of smoke that is the spores being dispersed. I was lucky on the mushrooms, not so for the Geraniums which outdid anything I tried to propagate in the same area. The word Geranium comes from the Greek word for crane or heron. Mine came from another place.
Last year I struggled to get some Dahlberg Daisies to do well in a border. This year they outdid themselves after self-seeding between the bricks of the front walk. I let several of them remain to teach me humility in the face of nature or as some kind of a lesson. Besides, they looked good.
Another plant that likes to roam is the Johnny Jump-Up. Kay likes the small flowers and I bow to She Who Must Be Obeyed. Kay also obtained some Forget-Me-Nots, Myosotis, from a friend. They also have small flowers. They also like to roam. The Johnny Jump-Ups are tricolor Violas and are vigorously self-seeding. They are now growing in the lawn. They are weeds. The Forget-Me Nots must be a wild form as they self-seed most freely and spread widely. This must be why they are called Forget-Me-Nots. It is impossible to forget they are there. Their seeds are like burrs and stick to my socks and pant legs. However, they inspire love music and
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