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When is a weed a weed? Answer. When you decide it is. This is particularly true when you like plants from the wild. Because almost every weed flowers and sometimes they look nice in the garden. And native plants are usually ones you find growing in the wild although I don’t believe I’ve ever run across a salvia greggi in the wild. Although maybe I just haven’t been looking. In the end, it comes down to taste and your willingness to pay attention.
Silverleaf nightshade for instance has a beautiful purple and gold flower that looks really nice, but if left unattended will colonize a plot of land to the exclusion of all else. It’s the same with bindweed and it grows up and out. So, typically I pull and root out those two plants. Although, when your garden is thick and rich with plants, as mine is beneath the big oaks, sometimes it’s hard to get in there and you just have to let nature take its course. Which may be the point of having native plants. It’s all about diversity and who gets the sun.
My current conundrum is the Whitetip Nightshade that showed up unbidden. It’s not really a native but it’s wild and it’s a lovely plant with tiny, tiny white flowers. Unfortunately, it’s also a shrub and it decided to appear amongst some bulbs I transplanted. Guess who is getting all the sun. Of course, that may be a good thing this summer because the bulbs are spring bloomers, so I’m inclined to let it play out. A little bit of natural randomness that might make for a good story and another plant in the garden. Or, maybe a weed to pull.