by Sheila Doucet, AAWE Paris and Environment Team Co-Chair
Dandelion. The perfect decaffeinated beverage or sophisticated salad leaf when introduced with understated pomp and circumstance on the menu at a trendy café, but considered a troubling nuisance which must be immediately obliterated by powerful pesticides as soon as it shows its dainty face on a closely manicured lawn.
Perspective. Is a dandelion a weed or is it a wildflower? What is the difference? Do definitions even matter? Anita Sanchez, author of The Teeth of the Lion – The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion, has chronicled how the dandelion cultivar was highly prized for its beauty across Europe and into Japan for millennia. It was most likely a stowaway on the Mayflower. Traditional healers across cultures have long appreciated the plant’s medicinal benefits; contemporary botanists armed with scientific methods and procedures have now corroborated these. They have demonstrated that dandelions are actually highly nutritious and contain more vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes, and are a powerhouse of iron, calcium and potassium. In addition to their potential to enhance the quality of what we eat, they serve several key ecological services in nature, for free: their deep tap roots loosen compacted earth and help aerate the soil. In addition, their flowers provide pollen to nourish bee larvae. The dandelion’s value is therefore beyond reproach. So why the bad reputation in certain circles? Why is a weed called a weed?
Turning our attention to the ultimate reference – Wikipedia – its no-nonsense response may astound:
WILDFLOWER: “not an exact term”… “more precise terms include native species (naturally occurring in the area), exotic... naturalized...”
WEED: “a plant in the wrong place… Examples commonly are human-controlled settings such as farm fields, gardens, lawns and parks.”
As we boldly march toward the Earth’s sixth mass extinction event, we once again are reminded of the heavy hand of human intervention – in this case, how cultural choices and values influence how an unexamined cultural narrative may come to fashion our individual perspective. However, this is not so in Nature. A bee does not differentiate between a weed and a wildflower. A ladybug happily feasts on dandelions. By gladly sipping nectar or foraging pollen, pollinators work in harmony with Nature. Nature accepts all functions without distinction. Nature is persistent, constantly adapts and shuns empty, sterile spaces. Nature embraces complex synergies. Nature is a riot of colors and sensory stimulation. Nature creates for survival, while humans typically create for crop yield, convenience, cash or a particular, often fickle cultural aesthetic.
To what extent do shifting aesthetics and culture impact our ideas relating to how we qualify what an “ideal” garden, public park or farm should look like? Why is a “picture perfect” lawn in the Western psyche more often than not considered to be a closely cut expanse of uninterrupted green grass? Is it because it is the only way a lawn can exist – or is it simply the current aesthetic?
One movement which may surprise or shock, depending on your perspective, is currently underfoot. It has the potential to shift our visual appreciation while allowing us to lend Nature a hand – help which is desperately needed because many common pollinator populations have been decimated in recent decades. As we can imagine, the causes are multifactorial – from pesticide use to decreased biodiversity in zones where monoculture cultivations occur. A stopgap solution, however, is within easy reach: rather than plowing to the edge of a field, farmers are encouraged to plant a hedgerow or leave an unplowed strip along the edge of their fields. Without forcing a major shift from conventional farming methods, this one minor change creates a narrow strip of land where diverse plants and wildflowers quickly reappear.
In a similar vein, homeowners can adopt “No Mow May” by leaving their lawnmowers in the shed, at least during the peak season for pollinator activity. Allow those dainty flowers to blossom so that the bees will have sufficient amounts of pollen to feed their larvae as they emerge from their long winter hibernation. (Better still would be to leave it from spring through autumn, because some pollinators may forage as late as the first frost.) Let the grass – and native-to-your-region wildflowers that pop up on your lawn – grow.
These “free – or natural – zones” are important because they will attract an endless stream of pollinators, especially our friends the honeybees, bumble bees and wild bees. Creating a corridor or strip of land connecting fields, meadows or gardens is important because some bees, especially wild ones, only forage within a 150–500 meter range from their colonies.
One of our Environment Team members, Valerie Garforth, provides a poignant example of how these multiple strands weave together in real life. The Toledo Zoo, based in Ohio, faced pushback a few years ago when it opted to convert one of its central areas to a “no mow” zone. Instead of a neatly trimmed lawn, they planted milkweed in its place. Milkweed, in the genus Asclepias, is the only plant material monarch butterfly caterpillars can eat. And this popular plant hosts many more species besides monarchs. Queen and soldier butterflies rely on the leaves to feed their young, too.
Although the “no mow” objective of providing habitat for the endangered monarch and nectar for pollinators may be clear, not everyone accepted the change. In fact, the project sparked controversy because some people found the zoo entrance “messy” and “unkept.” The zoo came up with the ingenious compromise of mowing a strip alongside the roadway, which made the edge look neat, while leaving a three-to-four-foot strip wild in the center.
Whew.
We are all interconnected. We all know that bees travel from their hives out into the world to forage. However, each bee species’ travel patterns – minimum and maximum flight distance from the hive, food preferences – differ. Therefore, we can best assist bees and our insect friends by multiplying both the diversity and availability of blossoms.
The moral of the story? Our perception of what is “beauty” is cultural and based upon the dominant aesthetics of the period during which we live. Not all private lawns need to look like a golf course’s putting green. A strip of grass running under the city tram can help with water drainage. Around Paris, more and more sidewalks feature plots surrounding trees where greenery emerges with multiple benefits: support biodiversity within the city limits, mitigate the accumulation of heat within the city, and provide a pleasant atmosphere for residents and visitors alike.
Are some of these dandelions? Yes, because “a weed is but an unloved flower.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poem “The Weed” (1906).
What can we do? Possible actions:
● Learn the top 10 native flowers in your region. Your local nursery/garden shop, horticultural society or university are typically valuable resources.
● Read the label of a pre-packaged “wildflower” seed package. Are these wildflowers native to the area? A local pollinator with a symbiotic relationship with a local wildflower will appreciate your thoughtfulness.
● Dedicate a small area or patch of your yard to native wildflowers.
● Create an attractive border as a wildflower haven.
● Incorporate native plants into your existing flower garden.
● Search the “No Mow May” site for additional information.
UK site: https://nomowmay.plantlife.org.uk/
● Recenter your inner child. Make a wish as you blow on a dandelion puff. You’ll be sharing their seeds on the wings of the wind.
Sources:
ARTICLES:
“Ten Things You Might Not Know About Dandelions” by Anita Sanchez
Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners, Summer 2007
https://www.mofga.org/resources/weeds/ten-things-you-might-not-know-about-dandelions/
University of Florida, IFAS, Gardening Solutions: Milkweed
https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/milkweed.html
“Why Mow?” Michael Pollan, The New York Times Magazine, May 28, 1989.
Link from his website:
https://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/why-mow-the-case-against-lawns/
Yale University Environmental Protection Clinic in collaboration with NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “Toward Sustainable Landscapes: Restoring the Right NOT to Mow”
BOOK: The Teeth of the Lion – The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion
by Anita Sanchez, McDonald and Woodward Publishing Company
YouTube:
“Dandelion: The Plant That Conquered The World” – Animalogic
All photos by Sheila Doucet
