Gardens: weeds to love and loathe

Though some weeds should be avoided, others are beautiful and attract bees and butterflies. All you need to do is choose wisely

Years ago, on my allotment, a tiny weed appeared among my beans. Out of intrigue, empathy – whatever the reason, I left it to see what it would become. A year later I had forgotten about it, buried beneath other weeds. Then, one dusk, there it was, a glowing white spire with the sun setting behind it: Digitalis purpurea subsp. albiflora, the less common form of Europe’s native foxglove. It ignited a weedy epiphany: what if these plants, seen as problems to be evicted, are a source of easy beauty in our gardens?

Since childhood I’ve felt a connection with weeds. Behind our family’s cottage garden in Buckinghamshire, I used to run through forests of giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), understanding its sap was dangerous. I swung from vines of wild Clematis alba and stomped over ivy (Hedera helix). I fed dandelions with fertiliser to grow bigger flowers. From buttercups to daisies, weeds are probably the first flowers most of us know.

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