'Weeds'?

They're not nearly as showy as the daylilies in the garden, but the 'weeds' in the meadow add a lot of interest to the season at this time of year. Most of these would be labelled weeds officially, but I like the definition of a weed that says 'a weed is a plant growing where it's not wanted'. The fact is that I want these weeds in our meadow, rather than just grass and hawthorns, so to me they're meadow flowers, not weeds. Here are just a few of what's blooming.

The milkweed, a stubborn weed in crop fields, but one of our favourite, because it is food for monarch butterflies. And if you get close to a large patch of milkweed, the fragrance is wonderful.

Queen Anne's Lace, a member of the carrot family, which scatters its white blossoms over any open spaces available. This is a personal favourite, as my mother often mentioned using it for her bridal bouquet 70 years ago.

Chickory, one of those flowers that opens and faces the sun in the morning, but then closes its blossoms and rests til the next morning. And one of the few truly blue meadow flowers.

Mullein, which grows a large rosette of thick fuzzy leaves one year, and then sends up a tall stock of flowers the next.



The rather weird viper's bugloss, the other blue flower in bloom at the moment. This one is growing right in the middle of our driveway.




One of the lesser known meadow flowers, the pale yellow cinquefoil.