Welcome to a Survivor’s Yard

Welcome to a summer visit to my survivor’s yard! Many of the choices made regarding yard maintenance relate to my hopes to mitigate the risk of more cancer. 

I started paying closer attention to what goes on in this yard when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer years ago. Although opinions are mixed depending on the study, I read up on the effect of herbicides and pesticides on breast health and asked my husband not to use pesticides or herbicides ever again.

That request should have been the beginning of the end of a neatly kept lawn. Sometimes, though, a person will use pesticides or herbicides surreptitiously. After a divorce, not so much over the yard, weeds erupted with abandon. Once, when the invasive Japanese stilt weed felt overwhelming, I did seek some help. When a lawn worker arrived with herbicide, I asked him to leave. Since then, I have learned how to eradicate weeds more safely.

A more realistic goal, though, has been for me is to learn to coexist with this yard without worrying about the weeds so much. You can see here that it is possible to coexist with stilt grass, wild violets and other natural gems. The stilt grass still surrounds my house, creating a border between my yard and the woods where one gets a feel for Appalachian nature (including wild wintergreen, ghost plants and orchids), but it no longer upsets me.

While inviting you to see my yard with tolerant eyes, I admit I am learning to pull this weed out of those flower gardens by the house, especially now that I have found a method to suit up to do yard work without ending up with poison ivy. Look past it, though, to the ironweed flower volunteering by the front porch. Try to imagine the wild phlox I planted by the edge of the woods competing with the weeds that want to consume the yard. It could be worse.

Here we are on the lawn as we stroll through this yard. There is some grass in it somewhere. Since I eschew yard herbicides, these can be found: Japanese clover, Eastern wild indigo, ground ivy, American plantain, common yellow wood sorrel, stilt grass, purple crown vetch, dandelions, wild violets, white avens, Virginia Creeper and lemon balm that escaped a garden. Etcetera!

Early spring, I do not mow until dandelions go to seed as I welcome pollinators. Then I mow at the highest setting to protect blooming violets. Over the summer, I mow now and then. If I were mowing today as you walked you through the yard, you could listen to me talking to bees and butterflies. “Move, bee!” I am known to whisper. Autumn, I mulch the leaves where they fall and leave them to do what they do.

You might think the gardens edging the lawn look bland this time of year, save bright colors in pots. You will be happy to know that I am trying to bring more color next year to these patches of garden by combining both cultivars and wildflowers. Lately, late afternoon, I pick at the soil to prepare it for a fall planting of bee balm, milkweed and Joe Pye weed. You can see some of that effort over there in that patch of dirt in front of the Jerusalem artichoke plants deer have been nibbling. 

I also moved peonies out of a wildflower bed — look there where goldenrod is growing with coreopsis and sunflowers by the front steps — to the front of the yard where more sun falls. (Goldenrod is not ragweed!) Not so far from the transplanted peonies is a jungle of lilac trees, pokeweed, wild raspberries, phlox from my mother’s garden, stilt weed and more (including poison ivy). This area, which includes an American beauty berry off to the side, really is for the birds. Birds also love the berries on a greenbrier climbing my wild cherry tree.

You can see from our little visit how fortunate I am to live in a rural neighborhood where my mess of a yard can be a survivor-friendly, pollinator-friendly, bird-friendly human habitat. While it is too late for me to avoid past exposures to herbicides and pesticides, including the DDT so ubiquitous when I was a child and which might or might not have been implicated in a HER2 gene mutation perhaps associated with my mother’s exposure to it before I was born, it is not too late to avoid some toxins. Bless my weeds, every one!

This piece reflects the author’s personal experience and perspective. For medical advice, please consult your health care provider.

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