Dandelions

Current fashion dictates that we have a lush green lawn. However dandelions have a long shelf life and the longest flowering season of any plant! No matter how people spray, dig, and chop at them, they persist. Their seeds can travel as much as five miles!

The name is from the French, Dent de Lion, or lions tooth because of the shape of the leaves. Did you know that every part of the plant is useable for foods, medicines and even colour dye? Did you know it is the first bit of nectar available to bees?

Some say it is the only flower representing the heavens. The sun is the yellow flower which even keeps the same hours as the sun; opening and shining in the day and closing for the night. The white puff ball is the moon and the little seeds stand for the stars.

It’s fashionable to eliminate the dandelion now, but in earlier times, people actually cultivated useful weeds like the dandelion. Then we became a bit more prosperous and determined to run a losing battle with a helpful ‘weed’ that is actually a flower!

Today, we spend millions to get rid of dandelions. We use 30% of our water keeping our lawns green and 100% of our time killing off dandelions.  So if you are determined to help the environment and increase your leisure time, stop going green on your lawn and cultivate a sea of yellow.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12, KJV)

Prayer – Lord, give us common sense thinking where your earth is concerned. Amen