When I think of August, one of the images that comes to mind is that of Queen Anne's Lace. Daucus carota. Wild carrot. As a boy, our family vacations always happened in August, and the fields and roadways of Vermont where we spent the month were covered with the feathery white weed. I didn't suffer from allergies back then, so they were a pure joy. My brother and I would pick handfuls of them and present them to my Mother, who always received them with the same acclaim she welcomed roses delivered by the florist for her birthday.
I looked up Queen Anne's Lace on the internet (don't you just love Wikipedia?) and discovered it is considered a beneficial weed. Apparently, at least in some settings, it provides an alternative target for predatory wasps, thus protecting the other plants. It can also create shade and a bit of cooling for other crops.
I really like that idea--a beneficial weed. Usually we think of weeds as useless at best, a a menace at worst. Weeds are for pulling out. Weeds are for throwing in the compost heap, or the backyard burning barrel. But who's to say what's a weed and what's not? As a boy, I thought Queen Anne's Lace was one of the most beautiful flowers on God's planet--or at least in Vermont. Truth be told, I still do!
We are often quick to label people as weeds as well. We relegate them to the scrap heaps of life without giving them a second thought or a second look. The physically disabled, the mentally challenged, those of differing sexual orientations, people of other races, other religions, other nationalities. But when we do so, our lives are made poorer for it. And we miss out on gifts, benefits such souls they have to offer to offer society.
I'm traveling up north later this month--I'll even have a day or two in Vermont. I'll be watching for the Queen Anne's Lace. But you needn't go to New England to find beneficial weeds!
(Photo Credit: Jason Parker-Burlingame, www.flickr.com/photos/nooks/98572324/)
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