Privet is rehabilitated

A couple years back, I posted a list of plants I hated. Privet was on that list, mainly because it's prolific and spread by birds, so if you're not constantly cutting it out, it shows up everywhere. (Also, it will resprout numerous times from the cut stem, and I lack the desire to grub out the roots of every privet I am trying to dispose of).

However, my feelings toward it have softened. At least for privets that are part of a hedgerow, or the one right next to my living room.

It's a good year here for privet flowers - they're covered with them. And it's also apparently a good year for Red Admiral butterflies, they're everywhere, and they seem to be using the privet as a nectar source. I mowed last evening and noticed dozens of Red Admirals, plus a few Painted Ladies and another species I couldn't see well enough to identify (it was either a Question Mark or an Eastern Comma, and yes, it amuses me that two similar species are both named after punctuation marks). They were just all over the plant and that made me happy - I love being able to see large numbers of butterflies. (I really need to clear out my flower garden soon and plant some stuff that butterflies will use).

Also, privet has a scent - it's strong and heavy and reminds me of lilacs (well it should; the two are related). I don't have any lilacs around here (not sure how well they do in this climate) and I kind of miss them...in Ohio, where I grew up, lilacs were very common (For years, my mom had one outside the kitchen window - at least, before the greenhouse was built. And the field hockey/lacrosse fields at my high school were ringed with them. The smell of lilacs makes me think of late spring and the end of school approaching... the anticipation of the long lazy summer. (Which I never get to actually have any more)).

So I don't hate privet quite so much any more. I still wish it was less of a resprouter, though.