Some people would consider Daisy fleabane a weed, since it tends to pop up uninvited in unexpected places.
But I’m a big defender of many so-called weeds, including fleabane, which is a member of the aster family and a favorite of native bees and small insects. It’s tough, easy to grow, and I think its dainty white-and-yellow flowers are pretty.
It’s a better sight on the summer landscape than some tropical plant that subsists on hose water and chemicals.
Many people love dogwoods—I don’t.
Sensitive to the changing climate and highly vulnerable to disease, dogwoods are now rapidly becoming extinct in the forests of the Southeastern United States.
They’re also increasingly difficult to grow in even optimal conditions, and apart from the few weeks when they bloom each spring, I think they’re homely little trees.
I do, however, mourn for the birds, pollinators, and other animals that subsist on them, and I hope they can adapt more successfully than the trees have.
Many things will go extinct in my lifetime—the dogwood is likely one of them.
This is my tribute.
Here’s a fine fall friend I recently met on the Atlanta BeltLine.
Hooray for public arboretums!
So many beneficial native plants are given misleading names. Chief among them is Joe Pye weed, a beautiful bloomer of late summer and early fall that draws pollinators with its pink and purple flowers.
I found this sweet Delaware skipper on a Joe Pye weed that was growing on the slope of a retention pond.
