Pretty weed and a fallen apple

St. John's Wort along the fence >

We have a lot of weeds and wild here at Lester's Flat. I enjoy figuring out which of them are worth keeping. There are the "pretty weeds" that are invasive (purple loosestrife, multiflora rose) and the harmless ones that take over if you let them (goldenrod, blackberry). My working theory is to let them grow until you find out they are obnoxious. Two on my list for elimination are not pretty at all, but are invasive: wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed.

This little gem with the yellow flowers turns out to be St. John's Wort, a plant which people actually cultivate for its medicinal use as a stress reliever, wound healer, all kinds of crazy things.

We have plenty of "wild apple" trees on our property. Most of them were most likely not wild at all, just selected varieties that were planted long ago and not properly pruned. This is another good year for lots of fruit, but sadly one of the old trees uprooted itself. We have had quite a lot of rain recently, and the old girl just couldn't hold onto the the little hill where she must have been standing for many years. Sad to see her and her many little apples go to waste. At least she didn't take out the fence on her way down.