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My lawn is more of a meadow

Staff photos by PENNY CARNATHAN

Even though their colorful buds are a redeeming quality, these wildflowers are - in fact - weeds.

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By PENNY CARNATHAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2009

Updated: 11/13/2009 06:35 pm

Some friends were talking the other day about cinch bugs, brown patches and other banes of lawn care.

"Not a problem for me," I said. "I've got weeds."

Hahahaha, they laughed. "Yeah! Me, too. Ha-ha!"

They were joking. I am not.

Sure, I have some tufts of Bahia here and there, depending on the season. But if it weren't for the weeds, my yard would have a serious case of pattern baldness.

Actually, it's wrong to call my little volunteers weeds. By definition, weeds are unwanted, and I want mine. That makes them wildflowers.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to persuade neighbors, or maybe a homeowners association, of this fine semantic distinction. In such cases, it's important to learn your plants' names. Who can argue when you point to Emilia fosbergii Nicolson and identify it as Florida tasselflower?

Thank goodness my neighbors are an easygoing bunch. But for those of you not so fortunate, I e-mailed photos of some of my new fall bloomers to a University of Florida weed expert. Phil Busey, based in Fort Lauderdale, very kindly provided the names.

Sadly, he wasn't as appreciative of my favorite as I am. He says it's hard to get rid of.

"I consider the Southern sida nasty in lawns," he wrote. "I prefer more delicate, restrained weeds."

But the flowers, he conceded, are "attractive and interesting."

Which is more than I can say for my Bahia.

Penny Carnathan

Pink purslane
Portulaca pilosa

Phil says this ID is a "probably." Pink purslane usually grows in dry, sandy areas; he likens it to the cultivated moss rose. (This photo is a super close-up; the flowers are very small and open only in bright light.)

Southern sida

Sida ulmifolia

A common sight in southeast Florida, it's also called common wireweed (but you don't have to share that).

Globe

amaranth

Gomphrena serrata

"Uncommon," Phil says. (Yup, that makes me proud.) It's documented in only seven states, including Hawaii, according to the USDA Plants Database.

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