Dandilion Diversity

I am convinced that if you were actually trying  to grow dandelions, they would be the hardest flowers to grow.  Right now, they are everywhere, and what is worse - the seeds are everywhere.  I just spent part of the morning pulling dandelions with my favorite of all garden tools (my wicked dandelion puller) while simultaneously being horrified at the literal carpet of dandelion seeds that are spread on the ground like a shag rug.  Clearly, it is never ending.  It is probably a good thing that I don't live in town or my neighbors would hate me.  I refuse to use chemical spray on my lawn or garden regardless of how many dandelions emerge.  As much as I dislike them, I highly prefer them to the chemicals that we tend to haphazardly spray around. When comparing dandelion to weed killer my list goes something like this:

Dandelion pros -

• green,
• pretty yellow flowers,
• white puffs of seeds that kids like to make wishes on,
• good to eat,
• can make into wine. 

Weed killer pros -

• fewer weeds, 
•  able to keep up with the Jones. 

Dandelion cons -

• dandelions growing everywhere you don't want them, namely the gardens. 

Weed killer cons -

• chemicals in the environment,
• monoculture lawns that provide no beneficial value to pollinators,
• chemicals in the kids and pets that play on the lawn,
• Chemicals in the worms that live in the lawn...and then in the birds that eat the worms...and then the cats that eat the birds that ate the worm that absorbed the chemical that lives in the house that Jack built....

Looking at that list, it makes the decision not to spray a simple one for me.  Are they unsightly? Depends upon how you look at it.  Watching my seven-year-old run laughing and kicking all the dandelion seed heads into the air until she is surrounded by a veritable mist of floating seeds...I don't think they are unsightly at all.  The dandelions also provide my children a much needed way of earning allowance or time on the computer - 30 seconds computer time or 1 cent for every dandelion pulled out of my gardens and it only counts if the entire root is there.  This has been known to keep several kids busy for quite some time and it cleans up the garden nicely. 

It fascinates me to see the amount of money and time that people spend on having the perfect carpet of lawn.  Seriously? This is what we focus on?  Waste of time, energy and water in my opinion.  I love the current move to change over lawns into vegetable gardens - more interesting to look at and clearly better for the environment and our health.  We need to get over our obsession with having a perfect golf course lawn surrounding our houses. 

I am reminded of an anecdote that I read sometime last fall:

"Imagine the conversation The Creator might have had with St. Francis on the subject of lawns:

God: Hey St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the Midwest? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect "no maintenance" garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.

St. Francis: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

God: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. The begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it... sometimes twice a week.

God: They cut it? Do they then bail it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

St. Francis: No Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God: Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

St. Francis: Yes, Sir.
 
God: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

St. Francis: You are not going to believe this Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

God: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.

St. Francis: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

God: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

St. Francis: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. The haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

God: And where do they get this mulch?

St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
 
God: Enough. I don't want to think about this anymore. Sister Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

Sister Catherine: "Dumb and Dumber", Lord. It's a real stupid movie about.....

God: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis."

I think of this a lot when I go into garden centers and DIY stores and smell the chemicals that line the aisles and see the bags of mulch.  What a screwed up world we live in these days when maintaining our perfectly green lawns is more important than the millions of people worldwide could use that $38.95 we just spent on weed killer to actually grow a useful crop that could feed them and their whole family. Where are the priorities?  I try my best to find a silver lining in some things, but when it comes to this....it is simply depressing.

I think I will make a few wishes that humanity will someday actually pay attention to this world and what we do to it, and go blow some dandelion seeds around.