NORTH OLMSTED, OH (WOIO) –Today is March 28, National Weed Appreciation Day. Before you think the laws have been changed and start gathering your munchies, we are talking about the weeds about to emerge in your yard, your flower beds, even the cracks in your sidewalk.
“Yeh, weeds.” Bonnie Zergot-Wendell, of Zergot Landscaping, chuckles when she learns there is a day for weed appreciation. After all her job is eliminating weeds and manicuring lawns.
“Weeds do have their place, they have value,” Zergot conceded. “They can be used for eating, they can be used medicinally, they help our wildlife, there’s many uses out there. You’re not necessarily going to want them in your vegetable garden, but to have an aside where you are allowing bees to pollinate, a place for birds to use, and bunnies to go, they definitely have value.”
Weed Appreciation Day is dedicated to all the weeds that are beneficial, like the dandelion, which is the first food source for the ailing bee population in the spring. Most likely brought by the Pilgrims for medicinal purposes, the leaves on the dandelion can be eaten raw, and even used to make wine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson asked, “What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
credit:cleveland19.com