There’s this North York School near Lawrence West and Caledonia that a lot of us like. It’s got moist, rich soil, gets a lot of sun, is minimally maintained (thank-you government cuts!) and gets tramped on a lot.

Me and my friends start growing there in the spring and put up with kids running all over on top us as we start peeking out of the ground. But then comes our big break! Summer holidays. And this year not many kids came here to play. Perfect!

We grew and grew and grew!

Canada Thistles:

Burdocks

Sow-thistles:

and a bunch of others ….. the pricklier the better!!

Sure ….. we get a lot of heat from people who hate those prickles – but how about those soft colourful flowers on top?

They attract some classy friends!

Like I was sayin’, life was perfect all summer! And then …..the kids came back to school and wanted to play in their playground. I thought we looked outstanding

but parents, teachers and kids didn’t agree. The CBC came to photograph us and people said a lot of mean things:

 ” The playground is covered with weeds”

” A really big mess.” “The weeds are sharp, prickly and unsafe”

“You can see overgrown weeds, really sharp plants. “

” The weeds are filthy ”

I get that we are sharp and prickly, in fact we are proud of it. It is a good way of keeping our flowers safe and our seeds protected until they are ripe.

But that comment about us being “dirty” really stung. I mean, heck we get cleaned in the rain all the time. And, not to boast, but nobody looks after us and we still spread like wildfire.

Oh – oh. It looks like the TDSB crew just pulled and are starting their “weed-wackers”. Sigh ….. It was fun while it lasted!

Miles Hearn