Weeds are plants, but not all plants are weeds. Your examples are certainly not weeds in the UK!

It all comes down to personal likes and dislikes. I have no roses and think the yellow ginger lily (Hedychium) and hydrangeas are all weeds. If they grow out of control and become too much work to keep them restrained, then they are a weed.

Bulba and I treat Mec. cambric as a weed because it is so invasive yet others love it - as already said it is down to personal choice. Or to put it another way 'a weed is a plant in the wrong place.'

I think that if a plant grows in the wild near to you it is likely to become an invasive weed in your garden. If it naturally grows in a differnt type of environment in a different country then it 'could' make a nice garden plant. There are many well known exceptions to this, of course.
I particularly like your Asclepias Tuborosa and would happily give it a try - especially if it comes with that lovely Swallowtail!

Bulbaholic that's what prompted my question. I have an area in my garden dedicated to Asclepias Tuborosa. They are not particularly invasive plants and have a very low germination rate. I only got 2 plants from an entire packet of seeds. I'd be happy to send you some seeds. They are a tuborous perennial as the name implies and draw all kinds of butterflies & bees.

I was just looking in the Sunday New York Times entertainment section to see if there were any shows on Broadway worth seeing... Nothing but that tourist attracting Disney drivel. So, theatrically speaking, a weed is a plant that tries to upstage your main plant in the garden.

When it comes to Broadway Shows - Did you check out "Kinky Boots" & "Jersey Boys"? Also The Christmas Spectacular will be playing at Radio City, Nutcraker at Lincoln Center and "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden. I'm pretty sure "Wicked" is still playing.

The last good show I saw on broadway Bathgate was " Angels In America". Hal Holbrook(American actor, stage and screen) was sitting next to my wife and I and from the fumes he exhaled I could tell that he had fortified himself very well before the show. Well he is in his 90's now so maybe that's what you gotta do to get there:) I prefer drama on broadway but don't seem to get much origional production much these days. Off Broadway is a little better but the gripes they write plays about are getting repetitive too...the same old hash.

From a true botanists perspective the definition of a weed is - a plant growing in the wrong place. so if you like it where it is it isn't a weed.
and as I grow a lot of British natives deliberately they are not weeds. but the native convolvulus that comes in from next door's patch definitiely is a weed.
when I moved house the roses were weeds to me, so out they came.

That's funny you consider roses as weeds. Here we have rose gardens, memorial roses, rose societies, etc. I have mint growing rampant in my garden some might consider it a weed, but I use so much of it. It keeps away the moles and voles too so I keep it around.

Thanks for everybody's response. I'm very curious how everyone discerns between weed&plants.

Many thanks for your generous offer of Asclepias seed, Bathgate. I was just about to accept the offer when I thought to look at our SRGC seed lists and I see that it is one of the seeds usually on offer to members. I will wait until I receive the 2015 list, early December, and if it is available again this year I will ask for some as part of my allocation. If I don't get any I will come back to you:-)

OK you are welcome

I have roses now Bathgate but they are linked to memories specifically. At the time the garden was in a shambles and the roses were not very nice.

Bathgate, mint hasn't deterred moles in my garden - and it spreads like a weed...I pulled armfuls out this autumn.
Should have restricted the root run. It amazes me when people plant red campion in their gardens - here it gets pulled out all the time and is a real pest, though its lovely on the roadsides.

Are you growing spearmint or peppermint? Spearmint seems to work for me.

Sadly I don't like spearmint ....

Bathgate, the second one isn't Virginia Spiderwort, but Common Dayflower (Commelina communis), from China. Probably not too bad as a weed in your area, but in the South it's called "widow's tears", to show how much heavy labor is needed for its (doubtful) control. I mistakenly planted it at my father's house for its blue flowers, then battled it for the next 10 years.

Thank you for your correction. Here it spreads like a green cloud over the land. However, I have seen it used beautifully in formal gardens and some grow it as houseplants. Supposedly it has many medicinal properties as well. I leave a small patch of it in my garden for the bees. They love it.

In my book a plant is one that requires cultivating wheras a weed turns up uninvited whether it is allowed to stay or not depends on whether I like it or not.

The folk name of this plant "widows tears" comes from the one or two clear thick liquid drops that come from squeezing the flower at its base. I guess that from where this folk name took root so to speak widows didn't cry all that much before they went about trying to find another husband.

Sadly, for much of human history, the fate of women was "marry, or starve", and it was rare to marry your true love.

Even worse was the fact that pregnancy for women at the turn of the century and before that was a potential death sentence. When the initial stats were being taken at around 1880 there were 80 maternal deaths per 1000 births. So it also was a matter of living long enough to be a widow. As always, women have my utmost respect. They have always born and battled great burdens in life.

Seaburngirl nailed it in one with the phrase "From a true botanists perspective the definition of a weed is - a plant growing in the wrong place."

Could'nt have said it better myself ;)

I agree it's relative. I just think it's funny that many of the invasive weeds around here are cultivated in the UK.

I wonder if any of our weeds are cultivated over there?

We grow Spanish Bluebell, here in Arizona, but mainly because it is easier to grow than the English species.

Unfortunately so do we, because of garden escapes and cross fertilization. They are lovely but they do tend to take over here and. In many places they are threatening the English ones. I can understand the English ones not liking the Arizona climate!

I've been getting multiple requests for seeds for both.