Put “Weeds” in Your Garden

Ironweed provides a nice accent for this wild meadow in Apple Valley in Howard, Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Joe Pye weed grows wild in Apple Valley too, but it's one of the "weeds" that should be in more gardens.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Jo Ann Graham has run two interesting columns in the Mount Vernon (Ohio) News praising garden plants often thought of as weeds (in two cases it could be because of their names):  Joe Pye weed, ironweed, and goldenrod.

In her September 13 column, she notes how the roadside flowers have shifted from the purple of Joe Pye weed and ironweed to the yellow of goldenrod.  I’ve enjoyed watching the goldenrod displays fill out over the past weeks.

Graham says that goldenrod is no longer a weed, proving the maxim that a weed is a plant you don’t want in your garden.   And it proves that people change their minds about what they want.

Choosing native plants like these is good for not only our gardens but for the environment and bees and other pollinators.  Plus these plants attract butterflies and birds for our enjoyment.

It also attracts bumble bees and other native bees and other insects that are interesting to watch, harmless to us, and very beneficial to plants.  Bumble bees, one of the native bees that can partly replace the pollination work of European honey bees, are on the decline along with honey bees.

And, as Graham explains, because it is pollinated by bees, butterflies, moths, and other bugs, goldenrod doesn’t deserve its reputation for causing hay fever.  She says it got this bad rap because it blooms the same time as ragweed, which is the culprit, because, unlike goldenrod, ragweed spreads its pollen by wind.

I didn’t realize that.

Knowing that goldenrod doesn’t cause hay fever makes me glad that it’s included—along with Joe Pye weed and ironweed--in a pre-planned  “96 Plant Monarch Habitat Garden”  for “medium soils” which I ordered from Prairie Nursery.    Native plants like these not only provide habitat for the endangered monarch and other butterflies and pollinators and birds, but also make a self-sustaining garden that, once established, needs no watering, no pesticides or fertilizers, and little weeding.  Just look at how well these plants fare without any management on roadsides and vacant lots.

In her August 30 column , Graham noted the “beautiful tall deep purple blooms of ironweed” seen on roadsides then.  She says that because of the popularity of native plants, “ironweed is popping up in perennials beds, alongside Joe-Pye weed, another native plant. “ Joe Pye weed has lavender flowers that pale next to ironweed’s bright purple.  I’ve noticed the two tend to grow together wild on roadsides.  And Graham has seen the two growing together with perennial phlox in Kingwood Center’s perennial beds.  The Apple Valley Garden Club, which I am a member of, is trying to get Graham as a speaker at a future Garden Club meeting.

Graham says that the nectar of ironweed flowers “attracts bees, flies, hummingbirds and butterflies. Some bees collect pollen for their larvae. Caterpillars of various moths feed on the pith of the stems and their roots. Aphids suck juices from the upper stems and leaf undersides. Hummingbirds and butterflies just love the nectar.”

I’m finding that the bright purple of ironweed has already been replaced by a similar purple in New England asters on roadsides.  There is one New England aster plant in the Monarch habitat shipment I expect to receive next week.

 I’m not seeing as much of Joe Pye weed now either.

All in all, Graham, past president of The Ohio Association of Garden Clubs, Inc., and Kingwood Center have given at least a few of these “weeds” a great endorsement!

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