Given the negative environmental effects of pesticides, it is vital to reexamine how thoroughly constructed the notions of “weeds” are. The definition of weeds is dependent on geography and human desire, rather than biology (Robbins 2003, 41). Early garden proponents held a lawn ideal more attainable in a world of dynamic polycultures, cultivating clover alongside turf grasses. Louise Hubbard, writing in the Bulletin of the Garden Club of America, espoused the virtue of white clover, “finding it the most effective of all the lawn materials for overcoming the weeds”(Garden Club Jan. 1921, 27), an interesting statement considering the later conception of clover as a weed. This polyculture created a far more stable lawn ecosystem, with clover drawing nitrogen in the air into the soil, thus benefiting turf grasses. This balance was to be disturbed by lawn-care chemicals; as a broad-leafed plant, clover was killed by 2,4-D along with dandelions and other weeds that were the initial targets of this new and effective herbicide (Steinberg 2006, 46). Opinion turned dramatically against clover, and “Scotts eventually began recommending a herbicide to rid the lawn of [the clover] they once sold people’s grandfathers”(Steinberg 2006, 47-48). These chemically treated monocultures, having removed all the normal aspects of a grass ecosystem—diverse plants, insect life, and cycles of growth—require ever more fertilizer to maintain the lawn’s health. Plants which arise naturally and act symbiotically in a grassland are named weeds—invaders to be annihilated with chemical warfare.
The City of Portland publishes an extensive plant list of Portland, categorizing vegetation as either native or a nuisance. Nuisance plants are essentially invasive species, and Portland designates a subset of invasive plants not already heavily established as the “Required Eradication List”(Bureau of Planning and Sustainability 2011, 167). In addition to the stereotypical invasive plants in the Pacific Northwest—English ivy, Himalayan blackberries, bamboo, English holly, and an assortment of rapidly growing, broad-leafed plants with “weed”in their common name—Portland lists clover and most types of non-native grasses as nuisance plants (Bureau of Planning and Sustainability 2011, 167-71). Under the Portland classification system, if these invasive grasses were less common and classified as Class A rather than Class C noxious weeds, homeowners would be required to remove all instances of rye grasses, bent grasses, and bluegrasses on their property. Instead, fertilizers, pesticides, and water are used to feed these “nuisance”plants.