wildflowers and weeds (was Re: Eggcorn?)

[Dennis R. Preston]

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