Coltsfoot: Some Dare to Call Me a Weed

Each spring, without fail, a bright yellow flower catches my eye after it emerges from the rocky gravel parking pad that's home to the family car. The soil is deficient and the sun struggles to reach the ground, shaded as it is by neighbouring garage walls and a tall laneway gate. Without complaint, however, a flower blooms. Its common name is coltsfoot, and it is widely considered a noxious weed.

Flowers emerge long before the
leaves of coltsfoot, named so because
the foliage looks like a colt's foot

There's something to be admired about a plant that grows so willingly. As a gardener who has encouraged and nourished and cheered on and tried to bargain with many a plant that has simply given up the fight, coltsfoot's carefree attitude is refreshing. It grows unperturbed in less-than-ideal conditions. I wondered how this perennial might react to being seen as undesirable. The result was the following poem:

Some Dare to Call Me a Weed 

Thyme demands sunshine, only thriving in heat

Umbrella pines whine about soils alkaline

Sages complain about cold, wet feet

Succulent sedums in shadows decline

Irises insist on their own special beds  

Lilacs withhold scent in the shade 

Azaleas shrink from drought with dread

Gerbera daisies in strong sunlight fade

Only I am content in derelict spaces

Fervent in wastelands and disturbed messy places

Arrays of butter bright flowers grow in a bunch

Rooted in gravel where car tires crunch

Florets in the cracks of a path or in ditches

A function of spring, I delight and enrich us

Radiant blooms are spread wide by my seed

And yet, some dare to call me a weed

Coltsfoot growing in gravel

There is a hidden message in the poem above. It's an acrostic poem which means the first letter of each line can be used to spell out a word or phrase. In this case, the first letters spell out the scientific name of this perennial herb. Can you figure it out?

Happy Gardening!