The Weed in My Window
By Andrea Peck
But make no mistake: the weeds will win; nature bats last. ~Robert M. Pyle
Recently, my husband and I had our refrigerator repaired. It's a big black behemoth of a refrigerator. Just like many people in the county, we found our trade-up on Craigslist. When we bought it, I was quite pleased to replace my old, off-white version with this modern black beauty. Her original owners were a well-to-do couple who decided that because the ice machine was not producing sufficiently, the refrigerator needed replacing. My husband bought her on the spot and fixed the ice machine.
He's pretty handy.
But, when my ice cream began to melt and the temperature inside My Ebony began to climb, we declared a food emergency and called an expert.
The expert arrived and found his way around our dogs to our best-looking appliance. He set his tools down and turned to me.
Can I ask you a question? He said.
As the least mechanical of the trio, I wondered how I figured in this equation.
What kind of plant is that in your yard? He nodded towards the large weed outside my front window. I see this guy pulling the flowers off those plants on Los Osos Valley Road all the time, he continued.
My husband stood by. It was an odd question. My husband continually threatens to cut down the weed which is currently eight feet tall and has a tendency to loom. Now, just before us, someone was decrying that this plant had a purpose.
I couldn't remember the name of my odd weed, which of course, is not really a weed. I just know the anise smell. I looked it up- it has a name: fennel.
Fennel is a Mediterranean plant that grows without hesitation upon our poor dry soils. It requires little water or care. It is not really a weed because you can buy seeds of the various cultivars and plant them. You can purchase it from the grocery store and you can use it in a multitude of ways.
Once you establish that it is in fact useful, you can see that fennel is a great plant. It grows and grows and splays out once it passes a certain height. It blooms clusters of dusty yellow flowers in little groupings like high-up lily pads. In our home it sits outside our busy window - its lacy growth lets the light in but prevents street gawkers from visually invading our living room.
Fennel can be purchased in the grocery story. How many weeds can you say that about? The bulb is used in soups and salads. The feathery leaves are often paired with salmon. The seeds are used in baking muffins, breads and other assorted items such as sauces. If you take a long look in your health food store, you will find it in pill form – some say it aids in digestion. It has a strong anise taste and smell. Some chew it, make tea with it and call it a tonic for various ailments. The plant knows no bounds. In fact, it is hard to pin its culinary boundaries down.
The best part, however, is that it is a host plant for the swallowtail butterfly. In my own garden, I believe we have witnessed the anise swallowtail, but fennel in general, encourages all types of swallowtail butterflies.
So the lesson here today is: love your weeds for they may be more than they look and tell your spouse to put away the loppers already.