365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Centaurea Montana
Day 215: Quite a sizeable number of plants we now think of as weeds are in fact escapees from gardens. They become "weedy" when they spread beyond manicured spaces, and may find themselves listed as "invasive" when there are no natural predators to control them. My mother's flower bed hosted a large clump of Centaurea montana (aka Bachelor's Buttons) which as a child, I adored. They never crept out of bounds, didn't spring up spontaneously in neighbours' yards, nor did they reseed in our own landscaping. When I moved here, I discovered them growing on the road verge not far from home so, thinking in terms of free ornamentals, I loaded the shovel in the car and lifted a clump to add to the Barren Wasteland between the house and garage. I am pleased to say that they have never extended themselves beyond their allotted space, and therefore are not a "weed" as far as I am concerned.
Labels:
bachelor's buttons,
Centaurea montana,
weeds
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