Q:After many years of battling weeds it occurred to me that we should ask why are we doing this. Spending all this money, time, and poison to kill plants because they look different than grass is crazy! Getting rid of foreign weeds makes sense, or weeds that are prickly or noxious in some way. Other than that, maybe it’s time to start thinking outside the lawn grass box.

A: You make a good point. Nature is always looking for something that will grow in a spot and it’s only our prejudice that names some plants weeds. I think it’s just a sense of aesthetics that inclines gardeners toward grass-only lawns. Whether flowers or lawns, our eyes like to see uniform repetition and a lawn is nothing if not repetitious (and perhaps boring). If crabgrass didn’t die in winter it could be an ideal turfgrass. If it were mowed frequently, I have no doubt that a lawn consisting of “weeds” would look attractive.