The famous American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson is said to have once asked and answered, “What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”  I truly feel that way.  First:  I do not know as much as I would like about botany.  Second:  I am convinced God had SOME purpose in mind when He created each and every plant.  I realize experienced gardeners might say many are invasive but I also think a great deal of what is being deemed weeds could also be beneficial if given a chance.  I will never forget the year my folks and I let the winter cabbage literally spiral out of control.  They had these yellow blooms that grew several feet centrifugally skyward.  During a rare snow we had an entire flock of bright little yellow birds migrating and they all converged to feast upon the yellow tops that had gone to seed.  All three of us stared in rapt fascination; we had never seen anything like it.  I miss the amount of cicadas, fireflies and butterflies that were around when I was a child.  I think people used to allow some “weeds” and wildflowers to grow without dousing them and everything else within a twelve mile radius full of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals.  Fields simply left to be fields ARE being productive.  We do not need another gas station, bank, or big box retailer.  What we do need is serenity and a symbiotic relationship with nature, which we seem to be slipping away from more and more.  When I discovered whatever this was in our front yard I transferred it to the empty planter on our back fence.  I think it is pretty, it has been very hardy, and has required very little water.  I do not want golf course sterility; I yearn for the wildness of nature.  So, unless it’s poisonous or incredibly detrimental, I have decided I’m not weeding anything out.