when is a weed a weed??

Status
Not open for further replies.
logan

logan

New Member
Jul 22, 2007
466
159
0
Auckland, NZ
www.florienne.co.nz
State / Prov
Auckland
Not sure if this is the right thread but someone will weed it out.
I was just outside picking some, what the kiwis call a weed, Jasmine to wind around a willow structure, just cause I think it is so beautiful. My elderly neighbours walked past and did not see me but commented on a patch of Oxalis in the garden in full bloom, I have been meaning to get rid of it but the weather has not been the best for gardening and it looks so lovely and bright actually that I thought...ah next week. (Don't think they are impressed)

My first experience with Kiwi weeds was Agapanthus...huh?!?
I don't consider Aggies a weed, they are beautiful..but....common as muck here and apparently since last year officially on the Invasive Weed list. Not one we get in the shop as a cut flower then. Next was the Jasmine thing.
There have been a few others. So I wondered what do you consider a weed? What about your customers?Queen Anne's Lace? Solidago? Calla lillies? (Yes, some folk consider those weeds, Green Goddess is dirt cheap here) Do your customers appreciate the weedy suspects or can you sell them? Just curious
 
When is a weed a weed? When it is somewhere it doesn't belong and endagers the native flora.

Arum lillies are a weed here (Australia), although they are a popular cut flower in the UK. If you go to our beautiful south west you will see masses of Arum's choking out the native plants. They are lovely in an "English country garden", but not so great in the bush when they cover everything else.
 
Understandable. That is the problem here with many non-indigenous species as well, too invasive and endangering native species.

I just wondered what are prized species in one part of the world and weeds in others.

Todd, just curious, since Arums are a weed there, do your customers consider all cultivated varieties of Calla weeds as well?

In the UK, Japanese knotweed is a terrible weed (darn, so fun to design with)
Last fall a lovely young designer, Will, from Oz was here and picked these gorgeous vines with pods, can't think of the name at the minute, all the kiwis went- ugh,you can't use that its a weed! (I 'weed' it from my garden to use as well, my neighbours wants me to rid his and thinks I am nuts for seeing design beauty in it)
 
logan said:
Todd, just curious, since Arums are a weed there, do your customers consider all cultivated varieties of Calla weeds as well?
Click to expand...


We sell Callas, popular for weddings actually. Our customers are fairly ignorant; it was only about 2 years ago that Arums were declared a weed, so on occasion we still get people asking for them or even people wanting to sell them as there is a rural area not far from here and the arums grow on peoples properties there.
 
We've found a new local grower and much of their product they produce for drying and selling as a dried product such as lavender. We have ended up buying stuff that I used to pull and tried to get rid of. I see new design possibilities for things I never would have thought of. We can now get locally grown Bells of Ireland and other product that we consider of value at less than wholesale cost. They're also a good source of millet and various decorative grasses.
 
Callas

I am NOT fond of Callas, I keep trying to tell people that they are just weeds. ;) I believe they call them Pig Lillies in South Africa. From what I have read they grow wild along the river banks there.
I remember reading a story in the old PFD magazine of a well to do South African whose daughter was being married in England. They just told the florist to spare no expense and make the flowers very lavish, well the florist went crazy with calla lilies... Come the wedding day the bride and her parents were apalled that this florist would use PIG LILIES lol
 
A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden.... so says the dictionary... therefore my St. Augustine front lawn is a troublesome weed... LOL My definition of a weed is anything that can't be complementary to the design. Well thats my 2 cents comment vased. Now I got to go weed some myrtle, agapanthus, diamond ivy, curly willow and a monster weed pitto that needs a chainsaw. Happy weeding all...
 
Some of my older customers consider solidago, monte, jasmine and yarrow just weeds.

I think of dandilion and crabgrass as weeds.
 
Aw, callas are great! Calla weddings take like 3 seconds to whip together. It's funny, they are so expensive here, it's hard to imagine they are a weed!

I know we can buy Queen Anne's Lace commercially but it pretty much grows on the side of the road here in Wisconsin and some people are like "ew!" and don't want it in their arrangements.
 
studioflora said:
I know we can buy Queen Anne's Lace commercially but it pretty much grows on the side of the road here in Wisconsin and some people are like "ew!" and don't want it in their arrangements.
Click to expand...

Try picking some of that Roadsidia Queen Anne's lace, and stem dying it chartreuse....that will puzzle the customer and it looks wonderful! It reminds me of Bupleurum . (I use yellow Absorbit and just add a tiny tiny bit of Blue Absorbit) :)
 
ooh! sounds nice biscotti.

I am helping at a shop which uses a lot of bb. (blech) and she had some really nice lady's mantle which I was putting in everything; that lime green really makes an arrg look great...
anyway she cut me off because she needed the lady's mantle for something and I said, ok! I'll make some of my own. I sprayed some bb lime green and the boss and customers thought it was awesome.

In arrgs it did look like something other than bb.

I've never used absorbit but i am the spray queen (waves hand regally)lol
 
Logan, I am amazed at the vegetation you have in New Zealand. My eyes were filled with so much floral beauty while there. Interesting that when you have so much of a good thing....it becomes nothing to the general population.

The one weed in N. Z. that was overwhelming was scotch broom. Apparently, it was brought over for some reason years ago, but, has almost entirely taken over the fields and mountains. But, what a glorious view to see all those yellow blooms for as far as the eye can see.

I actually present a program entitled "from your garden" to clubs and organizations. I only use what I can find in my yard or along the roadside including containers. I have taught so many people to really love those common weeds when they are used for such beauty. Every weed is beautiful when used artistically. My customers ask for some of those things when I do designs for them now.

EVERY FLOWER WAS ONCE A WEED IN SOMEONE'S GARDEN

Carol Bice
 
Solidago is considered a weed because it grows common around here. People don't like it in their arrangements. Some swear that it gives them hay fever. Queen Anne's Lace grows wild along the roadside. I think it's beautiful. So light and airy. Is it the same as "cow's parsley" in the U.K.? Along my little gravel road grow wild sweet peas in pink and purple. They are so delicate and smell so lovely. I don't know if it's considered a weed but it grows like one where I live!
 
crazy daisy said:
Solidago is considered a weed because it grows common around here. People don't like it in their arrangements. Some swear that it gives them hay fever. Queen Anne's Lace grows wild along the roadside. I think it's beautiful. So light and airy. Is it the same as "cow's parsley" in the U.K.? Along my little gravel road grow wild sweet peas in pink and purple. They are so delicate and smell so lovely. I don't know if it's considered a weed but it grows like one where I live!
Click to expand...


Sounds lovely, wish we had sweet peas growing like weeds
 
I have a story about Queen Anne's Lace....but that's not important right now.

Equisetum (sp?) I hate that stuff!

It is a horrible invasive plant that grows all around our water garden up near our patio.

I would rather deal with crabgrass or bermuda grass (and that is really a weed!!!!!!!!)

Joe


p.s. oh yea, Queen Annes Lace.... I once mowed almost 5 acres of it only to go to the flower market the next day to see it sell for $1.00 a bunch!
 
botanical and horticultural definition of a weed - ANY plant that grows where it is not wanted.

When is a weed not a weed.....when it is the garden of a great friend of mine. He decided many years ago to re-do his landscape in nothing but grasses, native plants, and plants that most would consider weeds. Consequently, He says he now has a garden that needs to be CURBED rather than CODDLED. As a side note to this story, His garden routinely wins best garden contests in his neighborhood.

For those of you who have callas, agapanthus, scotch broom, and other flora in numbers so huge that they become a weed.......Put those things to good use........or send some to the rest of us and let us put them to good use.
 
Well you all should come live in the high dessert of New Mexico and Colorado.

Everything you guys are complaining about is stuff I pay big bucks for to have in the shop!


Weeds.......whatever!
 
Carol Bice said:
I actually present a program entitled "from your garden" to clubs and organizations. I only use what I can find in my yard or along the roadside including containers. I have taught so many people to really love those common weeds when they are used for such beauty. Every weed is beautiful when used artistically. My customers ask for some of those things when I do designs for them now.

EVERY FLOWER WAS ONCE A WEED IN SOMEONE'S GARDEN

Carol Bice
Click to expand...


Carol, I have done the same thing (to a chorus of wow, you're kidding, who knew), which is why I have a difficult time designating anything a weed.

Even roses were considered weeds once.

V
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back