No Such Thing as a Weed: It's Really About a Butterfly:)

No Such Thing as a Weed

Peppergrass, Lepidium virginicum, in it's youth, early flowering stage.

This is young Peppergrass.  Clusters of white delicate flowers sprinkle the lawn and every one loves it.  "What is that?"  They all what to know.  Then it matures, goes to seed and they all want me to rip it out.  Ain't that the truth of it all.  No.  Let it live a full life and celebrate all the stages.  Border the area with proper scalloped edges and guard against gas guzzling weed eaters.  "There's no such thing as a weed!"  The truth is, this is a die hard weed to most people.  You can't kill it and even if you try, it comes back with a vengeance sprouting back two, for each one you chop. 

Something so resilient deserves careful examination:  Poor man's peppergrass, Lepidium virginicum is an ancient edible plant containing protein, vitamin A and a good bit of vitamin C.  There's also medicinal applications against Entamaoeba Histolytica Trophozoites,  tissue eating parasites whose infections are deadly!  This "weed" also has very powerful relatives.  It's cousin, the famous Maca is massively cultivated in Peru, for certain medicinal purposes.  And there's another reason:  See here below left: That's a Great Southern White (Ascia Monuste) Butterfly and below right, those are her freshly laid butterfly eggs.  

You've probably heard of Ascia Monuste, despite the pure white appearance, she's considered a dangerous pest.  She does have a nasty side.  Destroying cruciferous crops by the tons, farmers don't really love her.  She also lays her eggs on many plants in the Brassicacea family, like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.  Her children hatch, eat the leaves they were laid on and they can down a whole row in no time.  What if peppergrass were a solution?  We could relocate them here.  Welcome natural predators like wasps, lady bugs and ants, who feed on white butterfly larvae and help equalize the environment.  

Adult Great Southern White butterflies are a beautiful sight during summer, sometimes migrating in swarms.  They're also a great example of a migrating species that only moves in one direction!  Following the sun, chasing summer, only moving forward and never to return.  Sounds dreamy, lets keep them.

I rescued this Great (& obviously strong-willed) Southern White, from a spider web.