Weeds

As we all know, weeds are just plants in the wrong place, but when I first came to Slemani I thought the gardens were unkempt and overgrown with little care given to weeding or pruning.

Now having experience most of a year here, I have endless admiration for every green thing that manages to grow here.

Winters are short but brutal, with heavy frosts and snow. Spring is a mere two months, March and April. In that short time every things must sprout, grow, and flower. It is only mid-May and already the temperatures are in the mid-30s, with the last rain over two weeks ago. The prospect of more rain diminishes by the day and it is now likely to be bone dry until November (maybe a chance thunderstorm if we are lucky) For the next five months the daily temperature will be mostly above 40c and humidity under 15%.

Autumn brings another growing period but is extremely short, from the first rains in early November to the cold days of December.

And yet plants survive this climatic hell and anything that manages to grow at all demands respect. To pull up a plant for being 'in the wrong place' or even to call it a 'weed' seems peevish and very mean spirited.

Already most wild plants have gone to seed and are rapidly dying and drying off. One exception are hollyhocks whcih grow in the most unlikely places and bring a great splash of green and colour.