A weed is a plant that is not wanted, as gardeners say. But weeds tell gardeners a great deal about the condition of the soil, and a bed of “weeds” often deflects insects otherwise eager for the garden proper. Weeds are not wanted but they beg to serve. In our locale, the inauspiciously-named beggar tick is a common weed, a scrawny plant with small white-petaled flowers and a yellow center. And the beggar tick is beloved by butterflies of all sorts. The field guide says beggar tick habitat includes “disturbed” ground, so we humans invite them as weeds after all. May the beggar ticks stay, hailed as companion flowers and bringers of butterflies.