From conversations I've had over the years with keen gardeners [of which I am not one...despite lockdown which only went to prove that I don't enjoy it!] this stuff....bindweed is the bane of many. Once it takes a hold it's a devil to get rid of it. Of course, being the contrary soul I am have always delighted in the hedge one [as shown] and the field one with its marshmallow pink and white stripes. Surely it can't deserve such a wicked reputation? I set off to find out!
Well for starters it has some fabulous traditional country names. The rather sensible "Poor Man's Lily" or do you prefer the saltier Devil's Guts. I was rather partial to the Cornish Pingle-Wingles. In some parts of the country children used to hold the green bracts and pop the heads whilst repeating "Granny, Granny pop out of bed."
Are they of any use though? The bees love it and the larvae of the convolvulus hawk moth feed on the leaves. Unlike many other flowers it doesn't close up at night so the moths are also able to feed by the light of the parish lantern [sorry I only found out that the moon is called this earlier in the week, so was determined to work it into a blog post one way or another]
So there you have it...most definitely not all bad.
Arilx
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Bane of my garden too!
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxxx
When little we used to pull off a flower and put it over our nose and breathe in to see how long we could keep the flower there. Written down now it all seems a very odd thing to do!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I'd feel the same if it took over my garden, but I love to see bindweed flowers, I think they're gorgeous. There's a large hedgerow on the way out of town and the bindweed there is glorious.
ReplyDeleteI know so little about gardening, I've never heard any of the names you shared. Thank you for confessing that you too did not learn to love gardening in lock down or stay at home. Though, I am loving that the hostas seem t lvoe where I put them.
ReplyDelete