wildflowers and weeds (was Re: Eggcorn?)

Dennis R. Preston preston at MSU.EDU
Tue May 17 18:24:13 UTC 2005


arnold,

Could you warn us about this with some other name?

houttuynia cordata

dInIs, who'd like to keep this crap out of his garden, but don't know
what it is

>On May 16, 2005, at 9:17 PM, James C Stalker wrote:
>
>>...As I was engaged in the manly
>>ritual of taking out the garbage tonight, I took stock of my yard and
>>decided that I was going to have to do something about the forget-
>>me-nots,
>>phlox, and buttercups, which/that are taking over my garden.  They
>>are all
>>native to Michigan and love the cool weather.  They don't care
>>where they
>>grow, especially given the fertilizer and watering I've provided.
>>In fact,
>>they are spreading like wildflowers.  There seems to be a definition
>>problem.  What constitutes a "wildflower"?  A delicate thing that
>>needs a
>>very specific enviornment, or a hardy flower that's cute in the
>>woods but is
>>a weed in our garden?
>
>a weed is a plant that insists on growing where you don't want it.
>wildflowers are plants that mostly grow outside of cultivation.
>
>some weeds are invasive cultivated plants.  most are invasive
>wildflowers.
>
>some people cultivate what are normally wildflowers, like lady's
>slippers and jack-in-the-pulpit.  and there are strains of some weedy
>wildflowers -- even dandelions! -- that are meant for cultivation,
>though i tend to be wary indeed of them.
>
>when i had a real garden -- i'm now a container gardener -- i tended
>to work with moderately invasive plants, preferring to chop things
>back rather than nursing them along.  but i definitely had limits,
>and occasionally i made errors.  let me warn everyone against
>houttuynia cordata, for example.  (i grow it in a pot now, where it
>can be safely contained.)
>
>if you're a californian, you probably don't need to be warned about
>(most species of) bamboo.  bird-of-paradise plants quickly get out of
>hand, too.  and you should be careful to find out the truth about
>anything labeled as "trumpet vine" or "trumpet flower vine"; some of
>them are fine, but many are pests.
>
>arnold


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu



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