Author Nancy Gift deals with weeds
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In "A Weed by Any Other Name," Nancy Gift, assistant professor of environmental studies at Chatham University, passes along the idea that weeds are beautiful.
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Do we need another book about weeds? After reading Nancy Gift's delightful ruminations on the subject, the answer is yes.
"A Weed by Any Other Name: The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don't Plant" (Beacon Press, $23.95) profiles many common weeds and the animals and insects that are likely to be found on or around them.
But don't let the subject put you off. Ms. Gift weaves personal stories into the chapters, which follow the seasons and are named after common weeds, such as Wild Garlic, Poison Ivy and Morning Glory.
As an assistant professor of environmental studies and acting director of the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University, she certainly has the chops to author such a tome. She opted for a positive view.
"I really don't like sprayed lawns, but I was tired of reading all the reasons why spraying is bad. I wanted to focus on the positive instead -- that if you don't spray, you'll see these beautiful little weeds instead. And I do love seeing all the little weeds, but all the advertising for lawn products urges us to see anything besides grass as ugly."
In lectures on the topic, Ms. Gift said she's heard people who don't spray express guilt about how their lawns look.
"I want to eliminate that guilt and switch the idea of prestige to a lawn which has lots of different colors and shapes in it, rather than just one," she says.
While this book may not turn the most dedicated lawn zealot away from their arsenal of herbicides and fertilizers, it most certainly will give them food for thought. Rachael Carson would be proud.
First Published September 12, 2009 12:00 am
