So many farm meadows and yard would be barren without the wonderful clover flowering.

Also country roads and parks would be less colorful.

As a child I remember sitting in a field of clover, picking little flowers. Sweet memories.

Thanks for the reminders .. this is not a weed .. it is a blessing.

Thanks, Marilyn, I agree!!

I'm right there with you, ladies! Every year, I buy some clover seed from the local feed store, and spread it in the bare spots in my lawn, as well as wherever I have weeds I don't want. My game plan is that eventually the clover will take over the weeds I don't want (hey, a girl can dream!).

I love the smell of clover when it's mowed.


and whenever anyone asks me for yard ideas, I recommend clover in place of whatever grass they're considering. For me, clover lawns are totally the way to go.

25 years ago my spouse overseeded the lawn with dutch white clover like they used to do in the parks way back home.
One day one of the neighbors came over - one whose lawn is perfect and doesn't have anything else but KB grass. He said he could take care of that clover weed for us.

Nowadays the clover is pretty much throughout the lawn. The bees from the six hives out back love the flowers so much I feel guilty mowing it, but the flowers come back pretty quick. Next year we plan on overseeding the leach field with dutch white for more bee forage.

It is a bit of a pain when it gets in the flower beds.

You know, you're right. Wherever clover grows, very few weeds grow.
I need to use it to get rid of all my blasted Creeping Charlie. Ugh.

Thanks, Flit!
Good words.

Hi Tabby.
You are right, too! Especially about the comments from the neighbors; ask me how I know.

It does create a problem in flower beds, but it could be because I don't weed fast enough in them.
Thanks Tabby. Did y'all get rain yet?

We finally got 1 inch of rain last Wednesday. It was amazing! I can't remember the last time we had so much rain.

I'm beginning to feel the very same way here. We've had two inches since sometime in April.
Nightmare of a drought.

Sharon said:You know, you're right. Wherever clover grows, very few weeds grow.
I need to use it to get rid of all my blasted Creeping Charlie. Ugh.

Thanks, Flit!
Good words.

My pleasure! Have you done an article on Henbit yet? It's thriving in a 10x150 stretch of my yard. That's where I toss the clover seed each spring/fall, preferably during a rainstorm. My semi-local native nursery recommended it, I think. I have 2 storm-drains on my property edge -- the joys of being a corner lot, there's one for each street -- and so I'm trying VERY hard to not use chemicals if I can find alternatives.

Henbit:

Young leaves (dead-nettle) are edible raw or cooked. They were used for years and years as additions to salads or as a potherb, in soups, etc. They contain vitamins, iron, antioxidants, but I can't remember specifics without looking elsewhere for them.

As a medicine, it's antirheumatic, reduces fever, acts as a laxative, stimulant, and induces sweating.
That's about all I can remember about it, but somewhere along the way I probably have written something, can't really remember there've been so many.

Ummmm... mostly in medicine it's used as a tea.

I love the clover, the white & the red & the purple. They are so pretty! It's soft to walk on in bare feet & always feels cool to the touch. It smells nice.

Thanks for the article Sharon. Oh, & fiwit is always telling us on the daylily chat that clover is the way to go.

It does have its merits, clover does. And I love to sit and go barefoot in the middle of it, but watch out for bees. They love it more than we do!

Good for Fiwit. I try to get to the daylily chat thread often, just don't always catch every word. Good advice for everybody for sure.

If you shuffle your feet when you're walking in it rather than picking your foot up & putting it down then the odds of you stepping on a bee & being stung are almost nil. It's a trick also used for avoiding stepping on sting rays laying on the bottom.

Sharon said:Henbit:

Young leaves (dead-nettle) are edible raw or cooked. They were used for years and years as additions to salads or as a potherb, in soups, etc. They contain vitamins, iron, antioxidants, but I can't remember specifics without looking elsewhere for them.

As a medicine, it's antirheumatic, reduces fever, acts as a laxative, stimulant, and induces sweating.
That's about all I can remember about it, but somewhere along the way I probably have written something, can't really remember there've been so many.

Cool. AND it's one of the earliest bloomers, so it's feeding the pollinators when there's not much else for them. I will cease stressing about it (not that I was stressing overmuch once I realized how good it was for pollinators). Thanks!

Anytime; those little old ladies taught me well and I still have a bunch of their papers.

I had to look up 'antirheumatic' though, because Aunt Bett had written 'give for rumanticks'.
I had to say that one out loud.

I sure hope that's what she meant.

I love the clover in my lawn, and so do the bees. Never have been stung by they. I must shuffle my feet.
Mowing is a treat for me, all the wonderful scents coming from clover, grass and spearmint in the lawn. Hmmmmm. I can smell it just thinking about it.

Can you tell me what kind of clover this one is? It didn't have a name tag.


I have found it in a couple of place in my flower beds, I think it must have come in with some new potted plants last year.

I don't believe it's clover, Lynn. It might be oxalis instead, commonly called shamrock.

I'm not familiar with that particular bloom color with that foliage because mine is the dark foliage but with a pinkish-lavender bloom. There is one called copper sunset that might be a close match and I found it in the database:

Copper Velvet Shamrock (Oxalis 'Sunset Velvet')

Yours is very pretty. I'm just not familiar with the color. I'll keep looking.

If you do a Google image search you'll find there's an oxalis called 'burgundy bliss' and also one that's just called 'burgundy'.
They might be more like yours than the copper velvet is.

I do believe it's an oxalis, though, not clover.

Clover is of the trifolium family and though can have red blooms usually the foliage is green or maybe variegated. Plus the blooms on clover are not flat as they are on oxalis. Clover blooms like little spiky ball shapes.

I think I found it. It is one of the creeping wood sorrel (Oxalis corniculata). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...
I have found it in several places in my gardens. Did not know people grow it for an ornamental. It really is lovely when cared for.