Friday, May 01, 2009

What is a weed anyway?


Wood Violets (
Viola papilionacea) are considered weeds by some people.  Those people would be ill-bred, slack-jawed, boorish, hirsute yet prigish troglodytes who need everything just a certain way.  Their lawns look like golf courses and are just as toxic.  They are everything I hate about suburbia: the guise of perfection.  These lawns are, to quote Jesus, "like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.*" 

Okay, so maybe that's a little harsh.  But I gotta say it gets my goat when I see one of the keepers of the Green Sepulchres applying broadleaf killer.  I mean, this is our state flower, people.  Is nothing sacred?

Apparently not.  So we have decided our lawn is a safe haven for the genus Viola.  We mow high so they can suck as much energy as they can while they're still leafed out.  This allows small children to pick tiny little boquets for their mothers.  Any mother who has not received one of these tiny boquets doesn't know what they're missing.

Respectfully submitted,

   Canoelover

2 comments:

ktoy said...

I am so loving this! Joanna picked a bouquet of these for me yesterday from our yard :)

Carrie said...

I was just thinking about this today. There is a serious lack of organic lawns here in Maryland. I hate the idea of my children playing in all the toxins.

Creeping Charley is also quite pretty early on in the season.