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Chelsea Flower Show “rebranding weeds”

TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
in Plants
Saw this and wondered what people’s thoughts were (other news outlets are available!):

 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/25/chelsea-flower-show-gardens-rebrand-weeds-hero-plants
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Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    A weed is just a plant growing where you don't want it. With the exception of a few really pernicious things like japanese knotweed, people can have whatever they want in their gardens and call them hero plants if they want to. Me, I'll enjoy the dandelions glowing brightly in the council's grass verge outside and the bluebells and wild garlic in the woods but dig out the ones that appear in my garden.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • M33R4M33R4 Posts: 291
    If  it looks good I don't mind it growing in my garden whether it's considered a weed or not.
    I wish I could garden all year round!
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I have no problem with it at all, they are trying to make a valuable point.
    There will be a massive pavilion full of cultivated plants, if that is what you want.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    Brambles... ugh. They can keep their hero plants.

    Dandelions I do allow to stay  because the bees are always on them, but that's it.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Many of the plants we consider as treasures grow wild in their place of origin.  i remember clambering about on rocky slopes near Barcelona and seeing candytuft growing wild - https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/41031/iberis-umbellata/details and my Spanish friend muttering about common weeds.


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I have grown Rubus tricolor in a lardge tall pot for many years. It is a bramble and I love it. The only plant that I know to tumble down the side of a pot and make 2 metres of growth over the spring and summer months. It's shiny leaves and red stems are good , small flowers but it is a dramatic plant. I wouldn't be without it. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    The world is going mad and the RHS is charging along with it.  To me a weed is any plant I don't want in my garden, end of story.  I'm not saying such plants shouldn't grow elsewhere.
  • WildFlower_UKWildFlower_UK Posts: 236
    edited April 2023
    I think it's a really important message and am glad to see the RHS behind it. I think it definitely reflects the naturalistic horticultural/garden design movement we're seeing more and more. 'Weeds' are incredibly important for pollinators - and I think they look lovely, too. I actively grow dandelions, knapweed and foxgloves (as mentioned in the article) plus other 'weeds' in my garden and wouldn't be without them.
    "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    After last summer's drought it is important to think of things that will grow well going forward. The problem was lots of weeds struggled too without water.

    I just hope this isn't the RHS running out of ideas, so they turn to weeds in a drastic attempt to get publicity.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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