leaving a bit wild on purpose

At our party the other day I came across Clyde, Merlin’s dad, while on idle and keeping an eye on the kids in the “secret clubhouse”, crouched on the sidewalk helpfully pulling henbit out of the front yard exactly in a spot I had just weeded of noxious thistles.

I had left the henbit and some other flowering weeds on purpose. Awkwardly I explained to Clyde about how they have nice purple flowers. Bees and hummingbirds like them too. After the flowers die and the birds eat the seeds, I weed out the straggly leftovers. In general I leave weedy messy patches… on purpose… for biodiversity and because I think it’s prettier. It adds a note of pleasing randomness, and I’m too lazy to plant regulation wildflowers in such a way to make them look pleasingly random. I like the weeds and volunteers amidst the plants I’ve chosen. While I can appreciate the beauty of a completely cultivated garden, it’s not what I like to make or to live in.

This is good to keep in mind, and generally applicable to many other situations where we are helpful and apply our own useful and intelligent standards of value. It is crucial to know the thought and conscious development someone else has put *into* their messy randomness.