MYSTERY SOLVED

ARCTUIM LAPPA


"Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds with burdock, hemlocks, nettles, cuckoo-flowers" King Lear by Shakespeare

Last week I posted on a mystery plant in my garden this Spring. Blackswampgirl ( Kim ) of A Study in Contrasts garden blog wrote that it was perhaps burdock. And, after doing more research on it, I found that she was indeed correct. Thank you , Kim.

But burdock is not exactly a weed . A member of the thistle family, it is an herb and every part of it - roots, leaves and seeds are used for medicinal purposes such as skin problem, blood purification, etc. And, it's been around a very long time. Even Shakespeare waxed poetically about it, as described above.

Low and behold the other day I was at a potential client's garden and saw it growing everywhere. I winced when she said, " Look at these weeds ! " I didn't have the heart to say they were not weeds. They looked so much better than mine.


I don't think I could destroy it right now because it's about to bloom. On the other hand, because I have a small urban garden, I'm struggling to clear it of invasive plants. I've been totally without mercy in removing Spiderwort, thinning out the Korean bell flowers, blackeyed Susans, etc.

Question is : should I keep it ?