If all vacant lots could be turned into well-tended gardens or smooth grassy playgrounds, it would be a fine thing. Because these weeds are the same ones that make us so much work and trouble around our homes, gardens and farms, we hate them. A weed is merely a plant growing where it is not wanted.
Weeds have bold aggressive plant personalities, each kind with striking, easily recognized features.
Where there are weeds there is also a host of insects and other small animal life such as slugs, snails, pillbugs, centipedes and worms. Native birds and small mammals, too, find food and shelter there. In fact, a weedy vacant lot offers unusual opportunities for interesting studies in nature. One can be found within five minutes walk of almost any school in metropolitan Chicago. They should be used to add life to science courses which too often depend too much on dried plants, dried insects, and drier books.