I keep milkweed and mullein. Last year I let all the milkweed grow and I had so much. This year I'm going to harvest enough for a couple of meals and let the rest go. I also have plenty of red clover and I feel guilty pulling up our state flower, and the bees like it. I leave some of that. I think those things look fine in a cottage garden.

I think Henbit is pretty, its flowers look like tiny orchids. Besides, I can't seem to control it whatever I do, so may as well embrace it!

I leave a few of the little yellow flowers (found out they're called fiddleneck weeds) and the weeds that look like little daisies...but only a few. They will take over, if I give them too much space.

Dandelions and clover look nice (especially in early spring) so I leave those in the lawn, but not in the garden beds. Wormwood (artemisia) is everywhere...but mowing and lots of water seems to keep in somewhat under control. It loves dry, rocky spaces but will end up in the garden beds, if I don't keep an eye on it :)

I encourage Claytonia sibirica in my garden's shady spots, love it. I also like the tiny blue flower that I think is Cynoglossum amabile. I've never planted them and they pop up here and there.

Geranium robertianum is pretty but it takes over too much, so I pull it out wherever I see it. Besides, it's stinky.

Depends upon the weed whether or not you'll regret it. I don't consider violets a weed but some people do, and I decided to let that run rampant. Ugh, they are everywhere now and in between stones where they really don't belong. I can pull them but have to be vigilant.

Weeds can go where they want, just not in my flower beds or borders or in between my stones.

I let mullein do whatever it wants, but everything else I (try to) pull up. Anything that manages to be soft, furry, dramatically tall, AND medicinally beneficial is okay by me.

That said, if your experiment is successful and you find that any particular 'weeds' turn out to be friendly garden companions, I'd definitely be open to trying your philosophy. Less weeding sounds like a great option!

Skibby, you use milkweed in food? I thought it was poisonous. Didn't it kill Abraham Lincoln's mother?

I let it go one year and it bloomed late in the year along with the wild ageratum. Wove the two together for a very nice hair wreath for the local Renaissance Festival.

I let the trumpet honeysuckle go on the steep bank in front of the house. I tried to landscape it one year and it was quite a comedy. See in your minds eye a fat old woman toppling over as she tries to dig with a spade. See in your minds eye a fat old woman sliding downhill on her butt as she tries to sit and dig with a trowel. See in your minds eye a fat old woman bracing her left foot against the anchored spade she holds with her left hand as she digs with that trowel. See her innocently sitting upright every time a car drives by. Not a juniper nor a daylily to be found from that planting session. I gladly leave the front bank to the weeds.

i'm beginning to think we are mostly fat old ladies on this forum but don't we have fun! ...as long as no one is watching us as we huff and puff, and fall around our yards in our ratty old clothes or pj's?

(if there are any slim young gardeners, i don't want to know! :) min

I'm not the skinniest thing around and I do tend to fall more now days. ha.

Just came in from tackling the shotweed between the paving stones in the courtyard. I pulled the biggest ones and then suddenly realized this stuff has gotten way beyond my control esp. this Spring. I brought out the Round UP, even tho the temp is only 65 and the sun just bright enough, I used it on the remaining half of the area. We'll see if it was worth it. I know Round Up is strong stuff but being kind has only made this weed a bully! Not to mention it's in the lawn, growing tall and healthy with all those little white blooms just waiting to go to seed.

Chris - I use milkweed as a side dish. I only pick the young shoots and boil in salted water until tender. Delish! I'll try to attach a link...hmmm, scratching head...

Here is a link that might be useful: milkweed

Oh my gosh, Chris and Min, giggling out loud here and yes, I have slid down a bank-ours is in the back, but I still hope no one saw me-and I can't tell you how many times I go out to fill a feeder or birdbath and end up pulling weeds in my pjs! Happy gardening.

As to weeds, I figure, if it's green, it is okay by me. That excludes chickweed. :) I also let violets go, but that may not have been the best decision. I still like the flowers, but now, I am trying to keep them out of the beds which isn't easy especially with such ill-defined, unedged beds as mine! Pathetic. I don't worry about clover at all and the dandelions are fine as long as I get the flowers off before they go to seed.

If I didn't plant it, it doesn't get to stay :)

I agree that henbit is pretty, but if I left it, it would be everywhere.

I'm not opposed to using Round-up between my sidewalk stones either.

I have been embracing weeds because as long as some specific weeds are acting as ground cover, other less welcome weeds fail to get a grip. True, there is a wavy line between what I would refer to as a weed and what is just an innocent annual (nigella and californian poppies run amok on my plot, as does ox-eye daisies, feverfew, speedwell, henbit, celandines, dandelions.....all of which I am fairly relaxed about. Otoh, mallow, dock, perennial nettle, artemisia, tansy, alkanet and bindweed and couch are not welcome. I hasten to add that my garden is not really a garden, more a peice of land I lease from the council (allotment) ostensibly for growing veggies but in reality, I practice gardening, have fads and whims, try out unfeasible schemes and mess around.....oh yes, I also grow some veggies as well.

If you can't beat them, COUNT THEM TO DEATH!!

In the last two days I have eliminated 100 water hemlocks.
Ten were digable with a heavy trowel, the other 90 required
a shovel. Of the 100 about 15 were what I call Trophy Water Hemlocks--really big with forked roots. My it looks
nice where they were. I "discovered" half a dozen dark
blue hyacinths I had forgotten about and wonder of wonders
found leaves (no flowers) for a hellebore which I transplanted last summer and then didn't water enough.

My family thinks my math major in college causes the wierd
habit of counting weeds.

Chris