Day 97: groundsel

Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year

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I try to make a habit of being on the side of weeds – I like an underdog, and frankly, they were here first. But it’s hard to love groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) – it plays host to a variety of fungi that can hop across to your veg and ornamentals, and it has negligible medicinal value – it can’t even be bothered to open its yellow flowers properly, its tightly held blooms giving it something of an uptight air. I have it on good authority that chickens will happily munch groundsel and, in terms of wildlife value, the caterpillars of the red and black cinnabar moth seem fond of it. At least it’s easy to pull out of the ground – but you’d better get to it before it goes to seed like the one in the photo.


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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, writer, photographer, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking this image.

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