I was just going to say the same as Dan - anything by Richard Mabey is excellent. Also Jack Wallington's Wild About Weeds is EXCELLENT too. And jack is here on Substack too
I share your fascination with these underdog plants. I’ve mentioned it before (and wrote a review on an old Earthworm post), but worth reiterating here: Richard Mabey’s ‘Weeds’ is a brilliant (British-skewed) cultural history of vagabond plants. Highly recommend, if you can get your hands on a copy
I too am obsessed with weeds right now. I’ve experimented with not pulling them and my garden is thriving like never before! So my new motto is Leave the Weeds! I think of them as the first responders of healing the earth.
I love this, Boaz! I think of weeds as the underdogs of gardening.--just plants that are in a place we'd prefer them not be. :) But maybe they want to be there! I think I need to get "A Modern Herbal"...
Always fun to find someone who shares a fascination with weeds (I did my master’s studies in weed science). So many great weed books - the Richard Mabey one already mentioned, Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, Where Do Camels Belong (about invasive species generally, but plenty about weeds) by Ken Thompson, and because I love picture books, Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliott. Also, not a book, but a blog, Daniel at awkwardbotany.com writes a lot about weeds that I find particularly interesting since I also live in the west.
My favorite weed fact (Washington state edition) has to be that we can pinpoint exactly who brought in the dandelion, and when: https://www.historylink.org/File/9069
Dandelion wine AND medicine AND tasty bitter greens!
I grew up in mid-Missouri countryside. We ate watercress from the spring; picked "greens" in the summer (Lamb's Quarters, burdock, and others I can't recall the names of); picked morel mushrooms from the woods; drank sassafras root tea in the spring "to thin our blood. Chicory substituted for coffee, persimmons, wild grapes, blackberries, black walnuts were all free bounty provided by nature. My memories of foraging for all these are among my earliest and most vivid.
My idea of a favorite weed is really dependent on what interpretation of weed we're using! To so many, weeds are just about anything they didn't plant in their garden, so invasive or native it doesn't matter. Thistles are weeds to some but a much wanted native pollinator and host plant to others, including myself. I love thistles! Not sure they are my favorite but certainly one we should think about keeping around more often.
Dan Masoliver beat me to it! Richard Mabey's Weeds, The Story of Outlaw Plants is absolutely wonderful.
I was just going to say the same as Dan - anything by Richard Mabey is excellent. Also Jack Wallington's Wild About Weeds is EXCELLENT too. And jack is here on Substack too
I share your fascination with these underdog plants. I’ve mentioned it before (and wrote a review on an old Earthworm post), but worth reiterating here: Richard Mabey’s ‘Weeds’ is a brilliant (British-skewed) cultural history of vagabond plants. Highly recommend, if you can get your hands on a copy
I too am obsessed with weeds right now. I’ve experimented with not pulling them and my garden is thriving like never before! So my new motto is Leave the Weeds! I think of them as the first responders of healing the earth.
I love this, Boaz! I think of weeds as the underdogs of gardening.--just plants that are in a place we'd prefer them not be. :) But maybe they want to be there! I think I need to get "A Modern Herbal"...
Sending you encouragement to make your hairy bittercress pesto!
Always fun to find someone who shares a fascination with weeds (I did my master’s studies in weed science). So many great weed books - the Richard Mabey one already mentioned, Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, Where Do Camels Belong (about invasive species generally, but plenty about weeds) by Ken Thompson, and because I love picture books, Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliott. Also, not a book, but a blog, Daniel at awkwardbotany.com writes a lot about weeds that I find particularly interesting since I also live in the west.
My favorite weed fact (Washington state edition) has to be that we can pinpoint exactly who brought in the dandelion, and when: https://www.historylink.org/File/9069
Dandelion wine AND medicine AND tasty bitter greens!
I grew up in mid-Missouri countryside. We ate watercress from the spring; picked "greens" in the summer (Lamb's Quarters, burdock, and others I can't recall the names of); picked morel mushrooms from the woods; drank sassafras root tea in the spring "to thin our blood. Chicory substituted for coffee, persimmons, wild grapes, blackberries, black walnuts were all free bounty provided by nature. My memories of foraging for all these are among my earliest and most vivid.
My idea of a favorite weed is really dependent on what interpretation of weed we're using! To so many, weeds are just about anything they didn't plant in their garden, so invasive or native it doesn't matter. Thistles are weeds to some but a much wanted native pollinator and host plant to others, including myself. I love thistles! Not sure they are my favorite but certainly one we should think about keeping around more often.