Each year at
this time when the lawns are greening up, we get that pop of yellow in the
landscape. You may be thinking of
daffodils as they are typically the welcome inhabitants of the yards and
gardens around us. Or the hedgerows of
forsythia that also bring their golden glow to herald the arrival of
spring. But there are also the
dandelions that appear, not only in the woods or on the roadsides, but smack in
the middle of some well-kept lawns.
The
dandelion – now labeled as an unwanted visitor to our homesteads is not native
to North America. It is thought to have
been brought here by the Pilgrims to be used not only for their value as a food
source, but for their medicinal properties as well. But somewhere along the line, the dandelion
has become an unwanted immigrant. We
have, for the most part, turned away from welcoming them for their good
qualities and think of them as something that prohibits the achievement of a
pristine lawn. It seems that there are
those of us who do this to people too.
Some immigrants are looked down on because they spoil the idea of a
perfect landscape. We pick and chose
between things that are often not that different not taking into account their
best qualities. Why is it okay to
naturalize those yellow daffodils in the landscape but dislike the already
naturalized yellow dandelions?
Within the
last few years, some have begun to point out that by leaving the early blooming
dandelions around the bees will benefit from them as they are coming out of
their hibernation and looking for sources of food. I’ve seen those messages and also the
countermessages that say that it won’t hurt the bees to get rid of them. We
personally leave them in the bigger expanses of the lawn but try to remove them
from the flower beds where they will be competition for plants we are trying to
keep. But they are not harming our
lawn. If I were industrious enough, I
would take into account the many uses that dandelions have and use them for
those qualities. And there are a lot of
them.
If you look
on line you can find a lot of ways that dandelions are beneficial. Aside from a plethora of medicinal uses, the
greens are used for salads and contain high amounts of Vitamin A and are low in
calories. They can be used for tea or
winemaking and the roots can be used as a substitute for coffee. In the craft world they are used to make
dye. Their stems can be used for weaving
– yes, if they are left unmowed in a field, the stems will reach a foot or more
and can be dried and used as a natural weaving material. (If you leave them in your lawn and
continually mow over them you can see how they adapt by making their stems so
short or almost non-existent so they will continue to flower.) They can be
hammered between papers to make prints of the flower heads, and you can even
let children use them as a natural “paint” brush or as a stamp for
printing.
The
dandelion is representative of 3 celestial bodies at different stages of their
lives. The yellow flower represents the
sun, the white puffball the moon, and the seeds when dispersed represent the
stars. And don’t forget the magic of
wishing on those dandelion puffball seeds which, it’s been said, can be airborne
for 5 miles.
A dandelion
is an immigrant that puts down a deep taproot and is determined to stay
around. They are amongst the weeds that
were welcome when this country was new because of the benefits that they
brought. Whether they’re good for the bees or not, we
shouldn’t be so quick to forget about all the other ways that they are
beneficial. Shouldn’t we hope that the
Garden of Eden is not a well-manicured lawn, but someplace that embraces the
goodness of all the flora and fauna?
Shouldn’t we embrace all the goodness of each other?
I spend a lot of time plucking them out they do take over, it will require a shoft of thinking here...and for good reason-Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post. Yes, a lot of weeds vs wildflowers is perception rather than fact. I'm quite happy that an immaculate green lawn is no longer considered the only option. Neighbours across the road sowed their front patch with wildflowers two years and it seems to have caused divided opinion. I liked it!
ReplyDeleteNot just bees, I've seen birds eating the seedheads, another good reason to let them grow.
I just never have brought myself to use dandelions in a salad. Some people make it look delicious.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of dandelions - after all, how could something so beautiful be a bad thing? After a long dismal winter they're a welcome sight. I can understand why people maybe wouldn't want them taking over their flower beds but they certainly don't hurt in lawns and roadsides. The bees need them and we need the bees, so that's a good reason to keep them.
ReplyDelete