Volunteers

In human society "volunteer" refers to someone who gives her time to do good works. Maybe she sorts books for the Friends of the Lawrence Public Library book sale, or signs you in at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

In the garden, "volunteer" refers to a plant that springs up from seed dropped by a plant introduced by the gardener the previous season. In this picture of our garden, taken this afternoon, volunteers abound.


The tallest plants are volunteer sunflowers, which dwarf even the sweet corn. Volunteer potatoes sprang up among the green beans, broccoli, corn, and shallots, even though Dennis had cultivated the soil to smithereens. In the foreground, among the shallots are volunteer dill plants coming into bloom.

Why do we leave them? They are inconvenient and untidy. Well, who would have the heart to chop down those elegant, towering sunflowers? The potatoes are a no-brainer; they consistently out-produce the ones we plant each spring. As for the dill...



Black swallowtail butterfly larvae! This is one of several who are munching away on the dill plants.