June 23, 2004
Weeds
Our stewardly Metro Council of some thirty-five members was considering an ordnance that says our yards cannot have “grass, weeds, or other vegetation” taller than twelve inches. As reported in an earlier release, the Electric Service was already ahead of the council and working along their proposed lines with the trees.
Being someone of serious mind and also a concerned citizen, I took down my Book of Weeds and found that a weed is any obnoxious, undesired plant growing in competition with less obnoxious, desired plants. Weeds are not only useless, the Book says, but often result in direct loss by contending for moisture, robbing the soil of nutrients, reducing the yields of the good stuff, providing comfort to unwelcome insects, generally messing up the appearance and value of one’s property, and completely exhausting and frustrating gardeners who hate to come in second in any race.
The Council was apparently thinking along these same lines and had suggested a list of at least ten plants which they would define legally as illegal. It’s probably best not to list those here as what’s obnoxious to some could well be precious to others.
As it turned out, the proposal never got past the second reading. It seems that an enterprising reporter took pictures of the yards of the two council members who had introduced the legislation, only to find they’d both be in serious violation had their bill passed. When she pointed this out in the newspaper, complete with the pictures, one of the sponsors claimed that he had never signed the bill in the first place.