weeds?

This is an ode of sorts to weeds. They're pretty amazing when you think about it. They grow under the harshest of conditions, when the more elite & sophisticated plants turn up their noses, and they can have some of the most beautiful flowers around. I can vouch for the fact that the butterflies & bees that visit my yard certainly think so!

Over the last year or so, I've filled my backyard with all kinds of "butterfly attractant" flowers and yet, on any given morning, the plant they never fail to visit is the bidens alba, commonly known as "Beggar's-tick" (nice name, eh?) which currently proliferates in my backyard. Toby Hemenway in Gaia's Garden talks about how weeds are better than pretty much anything at deriving nutrition from the soil & air around them. It makes me wonder if the bugs can tell that...and if the nectar is somehow better from these plants? It would make sense since it would give them a definite advantage for propagation.

In any case, I'm keeping these real butterfly attractants around.