The neighbor who made me see my garden differently

Old Mrs. Chen from three doors down asked me why I was pulling out all the native milkweed last Saturday. She said the monarch caterpillars need it, and I just stood there holding a fistful of leaves feeling like a total jerk.

3 comments

3 Comments

nelson.cameron1mo ago

Got me thinking about how we're all so quick to rip things out without knowing what they're for. I used to think milkweed was just ugly weeds taking over the yard until I learned it's basically a nursery for monarchs. Now I leave patches of clover and dandelions too since the bees go crazy for them. Kinda makes you wonder what other "weeds" we're destroying that actually keep the whole neighborhood ecosystem running.

jones.brooke1mo ago

My neighbor actually got into a fight with the HOA over his front yard last summer because he let the clover grow and they said it was "unkept vegetation." He showed up to the board meeting with pictures of bees and butterflies on every single clover patch and a handout explaining pollinators need those plants. They still made him mow it down, but now there's a whole section in the rulebook about "responsible native plant maintenance" or something like that. It's funny how people get so worked up about a little clover but don't bat an eye at all the Roundup people spray on their lawns.

diana_king17d ago

lol @nelson.cameron that's exactly where my head went too. My neighbor down the street goes full nuclear on his lawn every spring with the weed and feed stuff and I can't even walk my dog past his house without her sneezing for an hour. Meanwhile I've got this big patch of wild violets in my backyard that the rabbits and bees absolutely love. I thought they were just some annoying ground cover taking over but then I looked it up and they're actually a native plant that supports spring pollinators when nothing else is blooming yet. Nature is wild like that, half the stuff we call weeds is just plants doing their job.