What’s in a name—specifically when it’s the common name of a plant that includes the word “weed”? When you hear of plants like jewelweed or pokeweed or clearweed, to name a few, what does it make you think?

All of those are native plants, but they’re also often treated more like that suffix in their names—like weeds, something gardeners are inclined to cast out.

I read recently about an upcoming webinar on the evening of Nov. 11 entitled “Weed by Name, Native by Nature” by Renee Kemmerer, the senior horticulturist at the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. It promises to offer a closer look at such misunderstood native plants and their ecological value, and how we can embrace them—not eliminate them. Since I intentionally make room for various natives called “weed,” I knew I wanted to talk her, and in our conversation she offered some of her takeaways about these too often maligned plants.

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