Weeds: What Are They Good For?

Here in the rainy East, it's a good summer to be a weed — or most any kind of plant, for that matter. But I'm thinking more about weeds this morning because I pulled so many of them over the weekend.

The soil is moist and they're easily uprooted. Plus, there are so many of them to banish. I would no sooner finish one patch of yard then I'd spy another plot of stilt grass a few feet away. Let's just say that no weeder will be idle this summer.

One can't help but wonder when weeding: What is it that separates the weed from its more accepted cousin? Or, put another way: Why do we cultivate one set of plants and get rid of another?

Beauty has a lot to do with it, of course, and utility.  And then there's basic economics: We value less what we have in abundance. But isn't there some arbitrariness to it all? After all, a weed can also be a flower.