Every visitor to my garden this spring has asked me, “What’s that plant?” and I always have to answer, “It’s, um, a weed. A speedwell, I think.” And the reply is always, “Well, it sure is pretty.” It sure is. That’s why I haven’t pulled it. Honest. Actually, it’s done blooming now, but for my own satisfaction I looked it up in Weeds of the Northeast. It’s Veronica chamaedrys, known commonly as germander speedwell or bird’s-eye speedwell, and it’s considered a lawn weed. Well, so are bugleweed and Johnny-jump-ups and violets. I wonder what makes it weedy?
“What’s that Plant?”
June 21, 2003 – Posted in: Native/Invasive, Plant infoAbout the Author
Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.
Comments on this entry are closed.
I like to say “a weed is anything you don’t want in your garden.” If you want violets they are not weeds. If you don’t want lawngrass then grass is a weed.
By the way, Mom, after our discusion about bindweed v. wild buckwheat, I did go up to my garden and check to see which I had. The happy answer? Both!!
We have bindweed, too, but it doesn’t seem to be in my flower gardens (yet). I do have a lot of the wild buckwheat, though.
Here’s what Utah Field Bindweed looks like. It really is the tool of the Devil.
That is pretty. Here in Utah we have what’s called bindweed, but everyone calls it Morning glory. When it gets in large shrubs and trees it looks like the tree is blooming. I once drove by a home that was thick with the stuff and thought, “I didn’t know Pine trees bloomed.”