Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Dandelion (Lentodon taraxacum) the weed that everyone hates seeing in their lawn. The weed that produces bright, Canary yellow flowers all over the lawn and in turn become a soft, almost snowflake like, white, globe-shaped seed head  after the flowers fade.  Just a little wind and the seed pods fly from the mother plant and germinate wherever they drop, even a little crack on the sidewalk will do.  The only way to get rid of them is to dig up the tap root.  A nearly impossible feat.

Officially, it is a weed.  But a very useful and attractive weed by many peoples standards.  If you don’t care much about having a perfect, green lawn, then Dandelions are a beautiful addition to the garden.  When they’re blooming, they make the lawn look like a prairie after a spring rain.

Rabbits and bees love them.   They’re also edible for us, though we haven’t tried them yet.  I know you can stir fry the leaves, dip the flower in batter and deep-fry them… I heard you can make beer from the flowers as well.

For me, the bright yellow flowers are a welcome sign of spring, as long as they stay in the lawn.  The opposite for Bill.  He picks any flower he can catch up to.  The lawn is his, the garden mine!  Ha.. ha..