Ah the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. Here it is. And perhaps I would never had discovered it until recently - when I decided to think of weeds as wild flowers.
I always hated dandelions. Popping up in places they are not welcome, spreading themselves out and pushing their roots deep down under the ground. The pleasure of pulling them out - their roots as big as parsnips - spoilt by the bare patch they leave behind and the knowledge that they would have launched hundreds of seeds so that they would reappear again and again.
But when I discovered that they are a rich source of food for bees, especially in Spring, I decided that as I love bees more than I hate dandelions they could stay.
And so the yellow flowers waited until quite suddenly the perfect white spheres of seeds appeared. When does that happen? Yesterday there were flowers and today they are fluffy, perfect white globes.
Then I began to stop and notice more and more weeds and peering out amongst those untidy rambling stems with their ragged, dusty leaves here were some of the most exquisite flowers, each one perfectly formed.
Tiny pink flowers with streaks of colour that could have been painted by the most talented water colour artist.
Lilac stars sprouting out from borage, with edible petals. Pick them and pull the cup away from the back of the flower - it comes away in one perfect, tiny bowl. Nature wraps its food with so much care.
A star flower
Ready for tasting
While these weeds spread across the ground, others have higher ambitions to climb and cover trees, walls and fences.
Ivy crawls across the ground and upwards, clinging on with its tangle of hand shaped leaves. I always imagined an evil presence below the ground, forcing this sinister invasion to spread up and around.
Now I think of ivy as a vertical habitat - essential for tiny creatures and insects and bio diversity. And it does no harm to trees.
And bindweed, twisting and turning upwards, which I once pulled down, over and over again until I left it there - with its white trumpet flowers.
Bindweed
Even nettles - the most hated weeds of all, I have come to accept. Tiger moths love them and perhaps we can do as well. They have so many uses that have been lost to us over time.
Nettles are nature's superfood, nutrient dense both for humans and for the soil, creating a healthy environment to grow crops in. And if they do sting us - well there is one more weed that we need to know about.
Plantain - with its leaves that can be used to relieve any itching from stinging nettles.
Plantain
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