” I do some of my best thinking while pulling weeds.”- Martha Smith
Volunteer-“In gardening and agronomic terminology, a volunteer is a plant that grows on its own, rather than being deliberately planted by a farmer or gardener. Volunteers often grow from seeds that float in on the wind, are dropped by birds, or are inadvertently mixed into compost.” (Wikipedia)
I have a couple of plants in my garden that are popping up without any help or encouragement from me. We did plant one of them but it is popping up in other spots. I have identified it as Sedum rubrotinctum aka Jelly Bean or Pork and Beans plants. Here are some photos of mine:
I think there were more that I pulled up when they were babies because I thought they were some kind of weed. Another plant (tree) that grows like a weed are Palm trees. If you have a Palm tree anywhere nearby you will find little Palm tree seedlings popping up like weeds all over your yard. And you have to be vigilant in pulling them out or pretty soon you will have a tree where you may not want one. We ended up with a huge Palm tree against our wall, from a volunteer like that, and another one in our front yard.
This is what they look like if you catch them early:
As I was surveying the plants in my backyard, I came across this hiding under some other bushes against one wall:
We will have to dig it up or end up with a much bigger tree in the near future.
In a recent post I mentioned there was clover growing in my garden, which also is a volunteer. I was thinking a neighbor may have some clover in their garden and the seeds spread to mine. Well, while researching the type of “clover” it might be, I discovered it is not clover but something called “Yellow wood sorrel” or Oxalis stricta. It grows wild so it is a volunteer. In small amounts it can be edible and medicinal. It is sour tasting and a thirst quencher if you chew a bit of it. The leaves close up in bright sun. I noticed some of the “clover” leaves were doing that too. I like the look of it but I don’t necessarily want it to take over the backyard, but it is pretty and has a pretty name ‘wood sorrel.’ I am going to have to look for a different ground cover to fill in the bare spots. I took some photos of the sorrel this morning. You can see some of the leaves partially closed. The yellow flowers are closed this morning. We had rain yesterday and the sun is not so bright right now, a little cloudy today.
Some good news is that we planted our Lime tree.
And the Sage plants are doing well and really blooming:
Featured Image of Sedum r. by Frank Vincentz via Wikipedia. One Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda G Hill.
I love that close up shot, and I can almost taste the limes.
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Thank you, JoAnna. ❤ The tree seems to be doing good so far. It has some flowers. No limes as yet. 🙂
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AGREED! That head shot is fabulous.
I’m a BIG fan of garden volunteers. Though, they do have a way of over-volunteering themselves.
I hosted a garden swap a couple of years, and there was no shortage of self-sown greenery to share. With each one I gave away, I also gave a caveat – This will spread! You are forewarned!
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Thank you, Maggie. Yes the sorrel is spreading already. It is fun identifying these volunteers.
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I just end up with ugly weeds volunteering to grow in my garden. What I really need is a volunteer gardener. A human one. 😛
Nice post, Deborah. 🙂
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Yes our backyard and front yard used to have a lot of problems. We did get some landscaping done but made it low maintenance. But I think I may still need some gardening help from time to time too. A volunteer one would be nice. Thank you, Linda. ❤
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Aquiligia is the most proliferate volunteer in our garden, they’re all over the place.
Oh, and by the way, your gif is ready…
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I had to look up Aquiligia and there are a whole slew of species of them. They look like pretty flowers from some of the images I saw. They attract bumblebees, which is great because many bumblebees are becoming an endangered species. I have not seen any bumblebees in my backyard for a long time.
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They seed all over the place and yes the bees love them
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Very cool. 🙂 I just posted your giff on my blog page. I think it looks good. Great that you can create giffs. I have just started using giffs in some of my posts. Fun. Thank you, Dale! 🙂
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