In 'Fortune of the Republic' Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."
For 2-3 years I had watched False Garlic [Nothoscordum bivalve] come up and bloom in the lawns of the small fenced community in which I live. Each spring I caught myself thinking what a beautiful little flower it was. So, in the fall of 2016 I dug about two dozen of the bulbs out of my neighbor's lawns, washed them off and replanted them in a small raised bed I had just finished building. In the spring of 2017 they came up and put on a nice show. So that fall I dug up about four dozen more and added them to the bed. The display in spring, 2018 was looking pretty good. But this past spring all the work really paid off because the display was just beautiful.
Giant flowers that can be seen from a distance are all well and good. In my mind, however, the smaller flowers are the real jewels of nature. Nothoscordum bivalve is a flower that, even at the ripe age of 70, is worth bending down to appreciate.

3 replies