As I grumpily walked outside to do the yard work I would not have been assigned had I still been living at school, I noticed something growing in the grass. A beautiful patch of purple and white flowers were sprouting, making my ordinary backyard feel more like a meadow.
After an hour of chopping up tree branches, I sat on the top of my hill and overlooked the patch of flowers. Bees buzzed happily from petal to petal, the plants shook delicately when the wind blew, and their smell mixed softly with the nearby pine trees. I turned to my dad who was masterfully manicuring his lawn with laser focus and mentioned how nice they were. “It’s a weed, I already sprayed them with round-up but they won’t go away.” he replied.
How could something so beautiful be regarded as a weed? They are called Wild Violets, and personally I think they add some life to the patch of grass they have infected. However, in conducting my research I found various articles on the best way to remove these flowers, and prevent them from returning to ruin a lush, green lawn.
I think this speaks to how society views nature. Although the flowers are a beautiful, native species, they are ripped out and doused with chemicals because they do not fit the image of a perfect lawn. The earth would be healthier and happier if it was left to follow its natural standards of beauty rather than be manicured to fit ours. Not to mention we would have much more time on our hands if we quit doing yard work.
-Danielle Hoban
English 110 Honors Spring 2020 
Danielle, this is an amazing piece of writing! I have to admit, when I first saw the picture, I thought the post would just be about some tiny, purple flowers. However, your story, and more importantly the connections you drew at the end, really impressed me. Your imagery in the second paragraph was beautiful, and when I read, “Bees buzzed happily from petal to petal, the plants shook delicately when the wind blew, and their smell mixed softly with the nearby pine trees,” I was able to imagine myself sitting at the top of your hill, experiencing all of these senses. It is really neat how you were able to draw the connection between the purple flowers and a lush, green lawn to the standards of appearance and beauty in society. Your piece makes me wonder about all of the other beautiful parts of the natural world that are not displayed or discovered yet due to efforts to fit in to an idealized standard of beauty.
– Selma Cemerlic
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Danielle,
First off, I want to say that I resonated with your first sentence, as I spent my Sunday afternoon doing yardwork. But at least it was better than sitting at my computer doing homework all day!
I really love your use of the rhetorical question ” How could something so beautiful be regarded as a weed?” It brought me back to when I was a young girl and used to pick dandelion bouquets for my mother, not realizing that these yellow ‘flowers” were really weeds that she was trying to remove from the yard. Anyways, I loved the descriptive language of your writing piece. I also loved your prospective on letting nature’s own beauty blossom. I think that is really important and would be nice if we all tried that sometime.
Great work!
~Caroline SanAngelo
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First of all, I can definitely relate to doing things around my house that I wouldn’t have had to do if I were at school. One of the things that I loved most about your piece was how you started by writing about the beauty of the flowers you found sprinkled throughout your yard and ended still focused on that beauty even though you were told that those delicate flowers were actually weeds. I really enjoyed reading your post, great job!
– Sydney Rubin
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I definitely agree with your last two paragraph, Danielle. I have never been able to understand why people classify wild flowers as weeds when they are just as beautiful as any flowers that can be bought at the store. Additionally, native species are almost always better for the local ecosystem than exotic plants that can quickly spread and choke out native species if not properly maintained. Personally, I think that the wild aspect of wild flowers adds yet another layer of beauty to them. They are growing from the ground because nature placed them there. Who cares that they aren’t growing in perfectly straight lines? They brighten the landscape in which they grow. Additionally, I really like the photograph you uploaded. The low perspective adds to the composition and makes it interesting to look at.
-Nick Whaley
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