Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover


Nancy Gift.
A Weed by any Other Name: The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants we Don’t Plant.
Boston: Beacon Press, 2009.
cloth, 192 pp., ISBN 978–0–8070–8552–3, $23.95.

As an educator in environmental studies, author Nancy Gift has a deep appreciation for what are commonly called “weeds.” In this text, she reflects on the value of these bothersome “plants out of place,” discussing their positive attributes, even some generally detested by gardeners. Reporting on her experiences with weeds during her lifetime, the author tells of their contributions to a gardener’s knowledge of the landscape and establishes their importance in the ecosystem. The text is very readable and offers some persuasive arguments why when “thinking green,” there should be a place for weeds in the garden scene.

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.