Monday, August 4, 2014

The Partridge Pea

A very pretty, lacy bright green weed 
has sprung up all along one of our flower beds:


It's so pretty, we haven't yet pulled it up.
I decided to see if I could find out what it is,
so I googled "pretty weed in Hampton Roads."
And from what I saw on Google Images, 
our mystery weed may be a partridge pea, 
If so, the ones we have are young plants.

When partridge peas get older, they get very tall, the leaves are less smooth, 
and the plant puts forth lovely yellow orchid-like flowers
 that are attractive to butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees:

File:Bumble Bees Love Partridge Peas (7475614008).jpg
By Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach, Florida, Planet Earth! [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

If our plant is indeed a partridge pea, 
we will need to decide if we are going to nurture it
or destroy it because it can be invasive and messy.
Que sera sera!
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