Living in a state with four distinct seasons has its challenges and its blessings.
The challenges: more yard work, bigger wardrobe, storms that freeze, crush, and blow away the fruits of my labor, callouses and broken fingernails.
The blessings: a sense of anticipation, bigger wardrobe, storms that take my breath away, multiple rainbows, flowers that come and go and make me wish they would stay just a little bit longer.
And this brings me to my dilemma concerning the ubiquitous dandelion.
Now that the last snow is behind us (Yes, wishful thinking.), I’m out in the yard planting, pruning, and pulling weeds. But what to do about this notorious bane to every gardener that is also a harbinger of summer, dotting fields with buttons of brilliant gold? The dandelion has me flummoxed. Is it all out war or is it time to pay homage to such a robust and persistent survivor?
As kids, we dilly-dallied away hours with the dandelion, picking them and plucking them. We wove them and donned the resulting crowns that transformed us into kings and queens. By the time the school bus honked at the end of the lane, the dandelions were on their way out, but with glory. To this day, I cannot resist the temptation of picking a perfect silver-white sphere of a dandelion gone to seed. To hold it up to the sun, marvel at the geometry, pucker and blow, and watch the wind carry each tiny black seed swaddled in down to someone else’s yard!
Some may think I am crazy crowing about the virtue of dandelions. How many gallons of Roundup have been used to eradicate them from beautifully manicured lawns? In my defense, it isn’t just the color of the bloom or the heartiness that I admire. I appreciate the dandelion for the nourishment it once provided. Mom was a forager. She tossed a mean dandelion green salad. She dusted plump blossoms with flour before dropping them into a pot of roiling oil. When they were light brown and bobbing at the surface, she scooped up the crispy buds with a slotted spoon and set them to drain on a paper sack. Salted, they were the tastiest, healthiest junk food a kid could ever munch. At Christmas, everyone, and I mean everyone, enjoyed a finger or two of Mom’s homemade dandelion wine. What I wouldn’t give for a bottle of Special Reserve right now.
And so, I ask you: Dandelion? Blossom or weed? Blessing or bane?
A version of this story “Dandelion Whine” appeared in Capper’s Magazine.
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Well you know Im gonna say keep them, enjoy, even love them.( Also u can juice them of course haha.) Resilience should be rewarded. So I too have a different view of what I choose to keep in my yard. I love plants that heartily and easily survive. As long as they are not prickly they can stay. 🙏❤️
I love your garden plant theory. “As long as they’re not prickly, they can stay” I’m going to apply that to people.
I have made peace with the dandelion. The bee thing flipped me. This, along with my basic indifference to lawn maintenance has led to my new policy of “let em’ go, let em grow.” Do you recommend eating them any time of the year, or only in spring?
The greens, only in the spring when they were tender. She made the wine all year long. The salad most often had vinegar and oil except when she made the salad wilted with bacon!
I’m with the “dandelions are beautiful “ mind set. Their color and shape and sweet sense about them. My Russian Tortoises also appreciated their taste. We were lucky to have so many in our yard at that time.—what a feast! I’m going to try that recipe your mom made. 💐
As soon as I find it, I am going to post her dandelion wine recipe. Her green salad was the best with oil, vinegar and salt. Sometimes she put the fried blossoms on top!
I have fallen in love with dandelions since living in the middle of a forest in upstate NY. I pick them everyday and make tea with raw honey. I drink it warm and put the rest in the frig and it is delicious cold. It is cleansing and healing for ones liver which I need. They are beautiful bright yellow in a sea of green and I love them. To me they are not a weed. They got a bad rap. Roundup or dense lion? Save the yard work and appreciate your dandelions, Temporary sunbursts in a dark time. I vote for freeing the dandelion. Why are they not flowers but weeks? We got it wrong, not the first time,
Thank you for the tea recipe and your vote! I am leaning in that direction! Enjoy your flower garden amongst the forest.
Heide,
I’ve certainly heard of dandelion wine, but never given it enough thought to realize it actually came from dandelions! What part do you use? Making crowns, blowing the fuzzes, and eating the greens were rites of passage in the schoolyard when I was in grade school, but I’d never heard of anyone frying the flowers. Squash blossoms, sure, but never any other kind of flower (not even nasturtiums). Thanks for teaching me something! Hope you are all doing well. xo
It’s always so great to hear from you! All is well even in this terrible pandemic and unrest. You use the full yellow flower for the wine. Mom also used sugar, yeast, orange and lemon. It was a very sweet and thick wine but oh so good! Stay well and thanks for sharing!
Blessing! That’s my vote for the hearty dandelion. Thanks for honoring them.
I bet you braided them in your hair, also.