Thursday, June 2, 2011

weeds, and so on, and so forth

The Large Turf, Albrecht Durer, 1503


The Hawkweed


Between the red top and the rye,
Between the buckwheat and the corn,
The ploughman sees with sullen eye
The hawkweed licking at the sky:

Three level acres all forlorn,
Unfertile, sour, outrun, outworn,
Free as the day that they were born.

Southward and northward, west and east,
The sulphate and the lime are spread;
Harrowed and sweetened, urged, increased,
The furrow sprouts for man and beast:

While of the hawkweed's radiant head
No stanchion reeks, no stock is fed.

Triumphant up the taken field
The tractor and the plough advance;
Blest be the healthy germ concealed
In the rich earth, and blest the yield:

And blest be Beauty, that enchants
The frail, the solitary lance.




Edna St. Vincent Millay
The Buck in the Snow and Other Poems
1928


The hawkweed is certainly licking at the sky at Willow Manor, along with the Virginia creeper.  Two new pairs of garden gloves are here, dormant on my desk, as we speak.  Putting dishes away and washing linens proved to be therapeutic this week, but I simply can't get motivated to tackle weeds.  For one thing, it's too damn hot.  Obviously, Durer thought them lovely enough to paint, and Millay considered them a thing of beauty.  I think I shall follow their lead, at least until it cools down a bit. 

49 comments:

  1. I think I would be inclined to do the very same thing.. weeding on a hot balmy day is extremely hard work. If you were here in Queensland, Australia today there would be no probs with weeding because it is nice & cool. We've just entered into our 2nd day of winter.

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  2. Katherine, my personal seasons are fall and winter. Summer is my least favorite. I don't excel in heat tolerance.

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  3. i will pretty much do anything to avoid weeding! in fact i recently created a brand new bed from my mother's day plants from the kids in order to avoid trying to get the invasive ground cover which keeps taking over the bed i put in a few years ago....

    love durer.... and edna what a pairing!

    good luck weeding....

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  4. We've already hit 100 degrees here in Louisiana. I get my hoe out after sundown to get rid of pesky weeds. There's no pulling them out of our concrete-hard, drought-ridden ground.

    Blessings,
    Marion

    "A weed is but an unloved flower." ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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  5. I have a theory that if we try to encourage the weeds, Murphys Law being what it is, they will all die out.

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  6. it always amuses me to see "tropicals" sold at nurseries and super markets here in NC. They are considered invasive weeds at my home in South Florida, their natural habitat.

    Someday perhaps, when I am back living in South Florida, I will buy a wild violet, or oxalis.

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  7. I'm amazed that your header picture is by Durer - it looks so contemporary.

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  8. it does look mod...you would not have done well here...3rd day in a row almost 100...too hot to breath...

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  9. Heat, oh glorious heat...I know, I know...heehee...the nemesis of my garden is the poke weed, so your task for the day is to come up with a tasty poke recipe and my task will be to harvest and eat it...now for the Creeping Charlie...!

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  10. Sharon, I have poke weeds the size of small trees. A recipe. That's what we need!

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  11. we had a bit of a break today...no storms and no un godly heat....but I fear it is but a wee break :(

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  12. I hate our weeds too. And here in Malaysia, I do it after a gentle shower. It would be nice and cool and the weeds just slip out easily, roots and all.

    But how they grow, in pots, on the lawn, in between the cracks...

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  13. Appalachian Mountain Cooking history and wisdom says you can eat the young greens but not the berries or mature leaves!..It's either that or get yourself a goat! Let the goat do the work and reward the animal with a BBQ at the end of Summer..Hehehe..If you couldn't bring yourself to do that though, a good milking goat is the way to go.

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  14. Aha...by the standard of weeds as beauty, my planting beds are manifestations of Aphrodite :)

    The heat, it came early to the land of pleasant living, and I am barely ahead of the grass!

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  15. Lovely selections of image and verse! Yes, let it grow. Lots happens in the weeds; many little stories unfold.

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  16. Weeds have their own kind of beauty. I like certain ones....just not the prickly ones.

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  17. The words selected and the image support my thoughts too. Both are beautiful.
    Thank you

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  18. Bear, I adore the goat solution. Willow Manor needs a goat.

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  19. Cheese for Weeds! sounds like a fair trade ay!

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  20. Durer, pure genius. One of my favorites. I find most weeds quite lovely.

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  21. Perhaps you could make an intentional home for the otherwise unwanted, and restrict it to that portion of creation.

    Aside from that, the other Bear is right; get a goat.

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  22. Durer, Durer, Durer. What a painter. As for the bloody weeds, I despair! Even in this year of heat and drought, the wretched things just won't stop.

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  23. wait for a cool rainy morn--it's coming..can't have humidity without it--until then read poetry and perhaps whip up a batch of cookies-I will be over to help you weed in a instant;-) c

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  24. That's a gorgeous painting -- it looks like a scene one could just step into and feel...

    Thanks, too, for the Millay. I had never read that one!

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  25. ...hot and humid same as here... and i am dying...i am blessed for i have those weeds under my feet...their soft blades make feel alive still... i wonder why weeds are called weeds??? hmmmn...

    Good day.

    ~Kelvin

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  26. When I first visited the Albertina Gallery in Vienna, I almost missed Dürer's drawings, they were so much smaller than I expected and so few of them hanging in one of the high-ceilinged salons of the Albertina Palais.

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  27. I am so sorry, the direct link goes nowhere!
    This one should link you to a site from which one can access the picture data base: Albertina.

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  28. Merisi, thanks so much for the link to the Albertina picture database. Wow...I just checked it out and must return now for a browse!

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  29. Tess dear, they are not weeds that Duerer painted but a clomp of meadow. Anyway, there is no such thing as a weed, just a plant out of place in our conditioned thinking. No use killing yourself in the heat, have an iced tea instead.

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  30. I have embraced the weeds and now call them my lawn...very eco-minded I must say!

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  31. Embrace the weeds. I love that, Oliag. I shall do just that.

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  32. Ah yes, the pesky weed turned into beauty... I have an area that was being taken over by moss, just when I thought I would leave it rather than continue to fight its spread, it has mostly vanished. Have not figured out the change, I have fought it year round for about two.

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  33. Reflections, you don't have to convince me on moss. I adore moss. The mossier, the better.

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  34. weeds!
    i know them.
    i do have a bit of the virginia creeper i'm trying to train up my maple..they have quite the nice fall color.

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  35. I totally agree that weeds are only weeds if you dont want them, I love most of these kinds of things growing and rambling through the garden...beauty after all is truly in the eye of the beholder!

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  36. I managed a little gentle weeding this morning but was back in the house gulping down iced tea before noon. Blistering out there.

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  37. I Love Weeds! I'm Infested With Russian Ivy & I Think Them Beautiful!

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  38. Tess -- Weeds are in the eyes of the beholder. I love weeds and their contribution to good soil and treats for non-humans. Weeds are especially wonderful in the winter when they offer wildness sculptures to the landscape. Good post.

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  39. Our weather has finally changed and today was beautiful. No humidity, clear skies and beautiful breezes. Hoping it comes to you soon.

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  40. Tess,

    Oh the heat does get to me and this is just the beginning!
    Xoxo

    Karena

    Art by Karena

    Be sure to Come and enter my amazing $250 giveaway from Tracy Porter

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  41. A weed is only a plant growing in the wrong place - if it looks pretty - leave it!

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  42. Hi! Willow...
    Beautiful painting by [The Large Turf, Albrecht Durer, 1503 ]
    and lovely words by [Edna St. Vincent Millay The Buck in the Snow and Other Poems 1928]
    Thanks, for sharing!
    DeeDee ;-D

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  43. I was told the wonder flower I have is actually poke weed. It looks great.

    But to answer your question "Who does the weeding?"

    Not me as I can no longer wield the weed whacker.

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  44. one of the first truly north american smells i smelled when i moved here from england is the smell of a field of "weeds" on a hot summer day. it is pure goodness and makes me think of grape kool-aid and melting sliced cheese sandwiches with thin slices of cucumber! steven

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  45. Steven, the scent of a field of weeds on a hot summer day and the taste of grape Kool-aid takes me straight back to my childhood. My little girl sandwich was bologna and Miracle Whip on fluffy white Wonder bread.

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  46. Weeds are only those flowers we do not want... I say EMBRACE them! :) just kidding... but I wish we could.

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  47. If it's any consolation, the Emily Dickinson grounds in Mass are very very weedy as well. ( just returned from days away, stop there for a daughter etc )

    keep cool , Tess.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)