Beneficial weeds are various plants not necessarily considered domesticated, but which nonetheless have some companion plant effect, or else are edible, including a great many wildflowers, but also including many weeds which people are wont to generically kill or poison, without realizing the benefit of that plant. Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is planting of different crops in close physical proximity. ... Five wildflower species Penstemon strictus A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. ... A weed is an unwanted plant. ...

Many of these are plants which are actually good to keep in one's garden, at the very least recognizing and not pulling them when they spontaneously grow near vegetables or flowers which will benefit from their appearance.

Many beneficial weeds attract parasitic insects away from other crops, sometimes even poisoning those insects and thus ending their threat entirely. For example; several kinds of weed will be devastated by japanese beetles while normally attacked vegetables nearby go completely ignored. Binomial name Popillia japonica Newman, 1841 The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a beetle about 1. ...

Some others:

• lock nutrients into the soil
• repel insects and other pests through their smell
• are unpleasant to small animals, because of their spines or other featues
• some plants seem to subtly change the flavor of other plants around them.
• plants which grow on different levels in the same space, perhaps providing ground cover or working as a trellis for another plant
• some weeds repel plants or fungi, through chemical means
• attracts or is inhabited by insects or other organisms which benefit plants, as with ladybugs or some "good nematodes"
• one plant type of plant may serve as a wind break, or shade from noonday sun, for another
• plants which attract pests away from others

Some are edible. This list of edible flowers includes many wildflowers which are considered weeds when not planted intentionally.

Indeed, another kind of beneficial weed is any decorative wildflower which is yanked out or cut when young, so its actual identity is never recognized by the gardener or yard keeper.

Dandelion is a relatively well-known example of an edible weed. Species See text. ...

Specific plants

• List of beneficial weeds
• List of companion plants

This is a list of undomesticated or feral plants, considered weeds, yet having some positive effects or uses, often being ideal as companion plants in gardens. ... This is a list of companion plant relationships. ...

External links

• Plants for a future -- Useful weeds
• Good Weeds -- especially its good list of "soil indicator" weeds