My weekly look at what is growing wild in my garden (and even in my flower beds!) has made me realise just how many weeds/wild flowers there are here, and I am certainly not going to run out of ideas for posts for a long while yet!
Today I have chosen a very pretty weed that many of you may know in one form or another: Veronica. As a child we called it Bird’s Eye, but is also often called Speedwell. The German name is ‘Männertreu’, literally translated as ‘men’s faithfulness’ which is an ironic reference to how quickly the petals drop or the flower wilts when picked. 😉 (Not at all PC these days I suppose!)
In addition, the common German name ‘Ehrenpreis’ (‘honour prize’) refers to its value in herbal medicine. It is apparently good for all sorts of ailments if used to make tea. (I haven’t tried it).
The most common Veronica that grows here is V. chamaedrys, but we also sometimes see the evergreen one V. persica, which is not quite so blue, much ‘weedier’ and flowers almost all year round. Veronica chamaedrys creeps into my garden beds in spring, but if left to grow in the meadow it will grow towards the light and get to about 40cm tall. Its delicate flowers are about 1cm across and a beautiful deep blue.
It is one of those weeds you may not remove from your flower beds because it so lovely. But it will spread like mad really quickly, so beware!
Have you seen this weed in your garden? And do you remove it imediately or stop to admire how pretty it is? Let me know in the comments! 😉 And if you would like to join me, please do, and leave a link to your post in the comments below.
Happy weeding!