Yes, I know what he means.  I’m becoming increasingly tolerant of weeds and have started protecting and even nurturing some. As a result, our lawn is taking on the character of a wild flower meadow, and this week I was heartened to see the first invasion of cow parsley and some self-seeded wild thyme, even as I grew 50 creeping thyme plants from seed. It’s been about 4 years since we did any lawn-weeding and the biodiversity is roughly doubling every year. The only thing being crowded out is grass and moss.

‘I sympathize with weeds perhaps more than with the crop they choke, they express so much vigor.’  24 July 1852

Source: Henry David Thoreau, The Journal 1837-1861, Damion Searls (ed.), preface by John R. Stilgoe (New York: New York Review Books, 2009), p. 159

Photo credit: Aaron Burden at unsplash