"WEEDS"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 4 (Supplement)

"WEEDS"

(Thoughts by a grown-up on leading Gloria Eawlinson'o poem.) " I am sorry for weeds." So am I, especially all the little flowers that are ruthlessly dubbed such. The daisies, for instance. The lawns have been covered with them for months past and, though they are mowed down m the evening, the. brave things are undaunted,' and the next morning show again a smiling and lovely face. " Did you ever see a daisy with a wrinkle or a frown?" The buttercups are still peeping up here and there. We had a bed of them in a corner of the gafden, but the boys teased, saying they were only weeds, and even the vicar pointed to them and laughed, so when fresh plants were being planted their room was needed. ' When I went to school, long years ago, we used to sing' a song, " Buttercups and daisies, o, the pretty flowers." In Florence Barclay's book, " The White Ladies of Worcester," there is .a paragraph which strongly appeals: " Who shall decide what flowers shall be called weeds? No plant of His creation, however humble, was called a weed by the Creator. When for man's sin He cursed the ground, He said, ' Thorns also and thistles shall it cause to bud!' Well, sharpest thgrns are found around the rose, and the thistle is the royal bloom of Scotland. Look at one of these; could you or I, labouring for years, make anything so perfect as the meanest of these weeds? Nay; they are called weeds because they grow where they should not be. If roses overgrew the wheat, we should dub them weeds and root them out." I have seen the thistle cultivated and given place of honour in a beautiful garden in a Sydney suburb. The plant was pruned, until only one flower bloomed', but it was an enormous size, as Jferge as three or four ordinary flowers. The owners were doubtless Scotch folk, who were proud of the fact, and wished to proclaim it. —By E. Y. Yarnton.