Wild at heart

Toby argues the case for the garden guests that defy order, and urges us all to take a walk on the wild side…

- Toby Buckland

IF I had a penny for every pedantic remark I made, I’d be £436.72 better off. Jokes aside, nit-picking pedantry is a terrible trait, and why I reach for the dial when shock-jock radio phone-ins are on the wireless. One illinformed remark, and I will morph from mellow potterer to angry yelling pedant, often in shouty Anglo-Saxon.

Yesterday was a case in point, when the anchor-woman asked whether the listeners preferred ‘weeds in their garden to (and I quote) plants’. “Weeds are plants!” I shouted (£436.73) – and what exactly is your definition of a weed? (£436.74)

Lisa once pointed out that we would have less arguments if I weren’t so pedantic – she meant to say ‘fewer’ but I got the gist (£436.75). So rather than get riled, I pondered the question in the spirit it was meant.

Many non-gardeners consider weeds as free and natural versions of plants bought from garden centres – and in many respects, they are right.