What differentiates a weed from a desirable plant...?

Question

Common (con)sense dictates that the so called weed growing in my small amateurish and beloved garden is to be ripped out of the earth by the very roots if possible. However, I liked it when I first saw it, so plain and dull looking it was, and I let it grow. It is enormous now, and I plan to keep letting it live its life for the time being.

All of these decisions an unexpected modification of usual plans -not long ago I'd've killed it good- got me wondering: why, and more importantly how, do we decide which plants are good and which are bad -just a weed-, as I used to think while I was killing them. Is there an actual technical reason I would not know about?

Answer 1

A weed is a "plant out of place." "Noxious weed," "pest plant," and "invasive species" all have legal definitions, but a "weed" is a subjective term. My dad went through the same angst when nightshade popped up in his yard--I said hey, keep it, it's pretty (and you know not to eat it). But my stepmom thinks the berries are staining the deck...it's all perspective.

Answer 2

Basically, if you don't want it, it's a weed.

If one plant is growing in the same patch as another, it can be considered a weed simply because it is of another variety. In the same way, a plant (such as fast-growing mint or crabgrass) that uses the nutrients that would normally be available to the other plants in a garden can also be considered a weed. Of course, the definition that singles these plants out as weeds can also target some plants that gardeners find desirable.

If you like it, keep it. The definition of a weed is determined by the gardener. Whether you planted it or not, if you want to have it around, and like having it around better than the alternative, it isn't a weed. I had a stand of herbaceous hibiscus a few years back, and noticed a wild plant (pigweed or Lamb's Quarters) growing in the middle of it. It wasn't threatening the lives of my hibiscus and no one else seemed to notice it was there, so I kept it. Of course, it became rather noticeable when it grew to over 7 feet tall. Some people just don't have a taste for such plants--another member of my household tore it out of the patch when she saw it.

That said, as long as you don't share the garden with someone else, as I did, you shouldn't have a problem, and you needn't consider it a weed. It's a...foster child! There ya go!

Answer 3

Well, to me the definition of a weed is a plant that is unwanted. So one person's weed is another's wanted plant. So no one intentionally plants what they consider to be a weed, except perhaps in the name of science. But I plant lots of things that some others would consider to be weeds. For instance I plant milkweed for monarch caterpillars to eat, but most would think of milkweed as a weed. And a lot of "weeds" have incredible medicinal properties. And the most beautiful flower, growing where it will choke out your vegetables, say, might be unwanted, and thus a weed. So it is just a matter of attitude. To bring it around to adoption, my job as an adoptive parent is to love and nurture my daughter to be the best plant she can be -- whatever plant she already was when she came to me. I should not try to make her into a certain type of flower that I really like, but instead the very best of whatever "species" she already is.

Answer 4

The term weed can be used for any unwanted plant. Terms such as aliens, exotics, invasives, are used interchangeably to describe a specific weeds. All these descriptions have a common concept: plants introduced into an area in which they did not evolve and cause significant economic and/or ecological impacts.

A rose in vegetable garden or a daisy in a field of dandelions would be considered weeds.

Answer 5

Hey mate, plants are categorised as weeds either by Legislation (based on scientific information - invasive qualities, poisonous properties etc...) or personal opinion. If you have a plant in your garden, and the law doesn't say it's a weed, if you like it by all means grow it.

Answer 6

A weed is anything you didn't plant on purpose and don;t want particularly. Crab grass can be considered weeds from hell, but if you dont have them on a house on a hill the hill might wash out.
Dandelions aren;t weeds if you make wine out of them.

Answer 7

"Weed" is not a botanical term. It is simply, by definition, a plant that is not valued where it is growing.

Only you can decide if a plant in your garden is a weed: If you value it, it is not. Isn't perspective a wonderful thing?

Answer 8

Attitude. My wife plants "lamb's ear" because she likes it as a ground cover, but our farmer friends see it as a noxious weed. They freak out every time they come over and see it, because we are surrounded by farmland and they are afraid it might propogate to their fields. So I make her keep it well away from the fields and under tight control.

Answer 9

Hi. A carrot in a potato patch is a weed.

Answer 10

Eat-ability.