In any sane, organized person's garden, volunteers are called weeds. I certainly pull out my share of weeds and use mulches where I can to control them. There is a definite place, however, in my garden for volunteers.
Foxgloves immediately come to mind when I think of weeds which are welcome to make my garden their home. Unless they actually show up in a raised bed or the middle of a path, I leave foxgloves alone. Their stately spires are a good food source for bees and I just think they look lovely.
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| Currant bush against the potting shed |
The currant bush which has grown up against the potting shed is another volunteer. It looks like a cross between the enormous King Edward bush below the potting shed and the currant bushes I gave up on in the garden as the birds nearly always got most of the crop. My volunteer has blooms which are a darker pink than the King Edward, but produces berries which I leave for the chickadees and their fluttery babies. Right now this bush is looking pretty motley because it was pruned back severely so we could install the UV light for the pond, but it won't take long to grow back again and its location means that it must be kept small.
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| Parsley gone to seed |
The flat Italian parsley is another welcome plant in my garden. I seeded this variety a number of years ago and it turns up regularly in a flowerbed above the pond. I can nearly always find some parsley thanks to the freely-cast seeds of this useful plant. Similarly, oregano appears all over the garden - mostly where I don't want it! There's even a clump of it growing in a grassy area which sends up a delicious, spicy scent whenever it's mowed.
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| Bright Lights swiss chard growing in the snow pea bed |
A couple of years ago, my neighbour Beth gave me some Bright Lights swiss chard plants. My garden is pretty warm and this variety goes to seed quite easily which is why I generally don't grow it. A recent weeding in the snow pea bed turned up a lot of little swiss chard plants, easily recognized by their colorful stems. Some I transplanted to more open areas and others I left where they were growing. Now that we're heading to fall, Bright Lights swiss chard will be a very useful addition to the winter garden.
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| Bright Lights in the strawberry bed |
I even discovered a well-grown plant in the new strawberry bed! Of course, I left it.
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| Beth's Big Fat Tomato |
And naturally Beth's Big Fat Tomato was originally a volunteer. I don't think my plant is producing tomatoes as big as the parent plant, but with a volunteer, you never know what you're going to get. I do know, however, that this plant is very productive and the tomatoes are just starting to ripen.
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| Arugula going to seed |
Several years ago, a friend gave me several small arugula plants from volunteers in her garden. This is the wild arugula and of all the varieties of arugula, I like this one best. It's everywhere in my garden, but quite easy to pull out.
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| A young arugula seedling popping up beside the snow peas |
The bed that is now growing the fall crop of snow peas had the original arugula plants in it and any time the soil is turned over, thousands of little arugula plants appear! And in my turn, I've passed along lots of little wild arugula plants as well.
I certainly have my share of weeds - chickweed, herb robert, snapweed, wild geranium and many others whose names I don't know - but many other so-called weeds, judiciously transplanted, are more than welcome to take up a spot in my garden.
