Читать книгу Down to the River and Up to the Trees: Discover the hidden nature on your doorstep - Sue Belfrage - Страница 27

While there are weeds such as hemlock and poison ivy that you wouldn’t welcome into your living space, others can bring benefits. Some weeds help check soil erosion and add organic matter and nutrients to the soil, while others with long roots can help break up compacted ground – the weed equivalent of earthworms.

The shrub buddleia can seed itself, weed-like, in wasteland, and is known as the butterfly bush for good reason. In summer, buddleia can become a fluttering heaven of butterfly wings as the insects flit about, sipping on the flowers. Even ivy, often ripped off walls and trees, is an important food supply for honeybees and birds in the autumn because of its late flowering season and calorie-rich berries.

If washed and prepared, weeds can be nutritious for human beings too. Add hot (not boiling) water to cleavers, also known as goose grass, for a medicinal cup of herbal tea that’s good for the digestive system. Or make yourself a salad from young dandelion leaves or chickweed, with its tiny white flowers. For a hot dish, sauté nettles, chickweed or sorrel with a little garlic and olive oil, and serve with a drizzle of lemon.

‘A weed is but an unloved flower.’

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX (1850–1919), ‘The Weed’