In the Weeds

A weed is just a good plant in a bad place, really.  But the result is a bad plant.  Some of my least favorite flowers are blooming now... a lot of "weeds," including these, can be pretty.  A lot of people call some of the native plants I treasure "weeds" because they move into their yards without being invited.  But invasive species that threaten the biodiversity of the ecosystem... no matter how pretty they seem, when I see them, I can't get past the ugliness of what they're doing.

Here, crown vetch (purple) and birds' foot trefoil (I was sad when I learned that one was invasive):

Yellow sweet clover (with other clovers as well...):

And, everyone's favorite, bindweed.  Just try to get that off a plant it's decided to climb up...

Coreopsis, campion and clover, oh my!

These coreopsises (which is an interesting word to make plural... coreopses?) are in full bloom, their bright yellow cheering up another grey day. They are another one of those flowers with color so pure it looks like you could just jump right in to a pool of it, and it's about my favorite color.

Rushes and sedges of many varieties are currently bearing seedheads. I can't even pretend I'm good at IDing them -- other than being able to categorize a plant as a rush, a sedge or a grass... using, of course, the old sing-song mnemonic that botany students everywhere learn: Sedges have edges, rushes are round, and grasses have asses [nodes] down low to the ground.

Note: I would love to be able to differentiate them accurately; I have a book but it isn't great. Any suggestions welcome!

Anyhow, here is a rush to represent them all.

Bladder campion (and also daisies) are lining roadsides everywhere. Despite their weediness and the fact that they aren't native, I quite like the bladder -- really an inflated, purple-veined calyx sac -- for which they are commonly named.

And this is the almost-blooming blanket flower that grows all over at school, though it is technically native to slightly more western prairie areas.

In the world of weeds (which sometimes seems to be the entire world), here are 4 that are in full bloom: orchard grass, yellow sweet clover, vetch, and red and white clovers intermingling together.