Eye of the Beholder

As a land restoration enthusiast, I am always fascinated at unused spaces. They are bastions of possibility and potential. My kids will begrudgingly attest that I am always pointing out plants and flowers that pop up on disturbed fields, roadsides, and ditches whenever we are driving somewhere. Even though most of these plants are invasives, throwaways, or undesirable, there’s something about them that intrigues me. Maybe it’s the desire to clean them up and replace them. Maybe it is the splashes of color that change from season to season, Maybe it is the opportunity to teach people about something they would normally overlook.

Every time I drive our usual route to summer school, the hockey rink, or our local Kwik Trip, I see one of these “junk fields.” It so full of plants most don’t know about or care about. Chicory. Queen Anne’s Lace. Birdsfoot trefoil. Teasel. Sow thistle. Restoration and plant people tend to cringe at the sight and sound of these species. Yet, as undesirable as they are, something about a full field of them is beautiful. The plants themselves may not offer a lot, but the potential they represent certainly does.