In The Weeds

As I was tootling around the garden, thinking about what I might write to you this month, a little face smiled up at me. What luck!* There wasn’t a creature in my garden, but rather the happy face of a viola, right smack in the middle of my path. Now, some people would call this sweet flower a weed, but to me violas are a welcome and fabulous volunteer.

“Right”, I can almost hear you say,

“Aren’t weeds and volunteer plants basically the same thing?”

Almost, with the difference being a matter of perceived value. Weeds are plants that have zero medicinal or beneficial qualities to you. Weeds are plants that choke out plants you love with seemingly nothing but a bullish agenda to survive. Volunteers on the other hand, are plants that have value in a variety of ways, who may just require a little relocating or deadheading from time to time.

Violas, perhaps better known by their common name of Johnny jump-ups, are a pretty addition to any garden. In the edible garden, they work as a deterrent for cabbage moths, plus they transplant easily into any raised bed and sunny nook or cranny that may need an extra pop of happy colour.

In the kitchen they can be used either candied or plain to beautify desserts, salads or veggie plates. Containing both Vitamin C & A, along with a powerful type of antioxidant called Anthocyanin, viola’s prove to be more than just a weed or another pretty face.

What can you do if you’d like viola’s, but currently have none?

Collect a volunteer plant from a neighbor or friend’s yard and allow it to go to seed** Seed can also be purchased from a reputable seed distributor. I personally like West Coast seeds. (no, I’m not an affiliate, nor am I sponsored by W.C.S., I just trust the quality of their seeds)

With this pretty face in mind, the next time you’re digging in the “weeds”, take back some of your own precious time by seeing viola’s and other, beneficial to you, plants as the volunteers they could be, while just letting nature be, as nature is, for the time being.

Want to learn more about beneficial volunteers?

Subscribe and stay tuned for the next issue of Coffee with Moe coming to Subscribers Inboxes on July 11th.

Until then, happy gardening!

XO

Moe

*To find out my thoughts on luck (& a few ways to get lucky-er), read Coffee with Moe: HERE

**Going to seed means allowing at least a few flowers to stay on each plant without being picked or deadheaded. By doing this, you are ensuring that this or any other free-seeding flower will have the opportunity to develop some mature seed and self-propagate into the gardening season to come.