Category: Dandelion

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The Dandelion (Part II)

Spring Salad by badlyricpolice

Dandelions are good in salads and sandwiches. You can cook with the leaves. The flowers can be used to make lemonade, beer or wine. The roots are made into a tea. For interesting dandelion recipes check out this blog.

If you consider the dandelion a weed and want to get rid of them, to do so is difficult because the dandelion seed can be windborne for several miles. Also, the dandelion has a long, strong taproot that is capable of penetrating the soil to a depth of 10 to 15 feet, though it is most commonly 6 to 18 inches deep. Solitary new dandelion plants along fence rows, roadsides, flower beds, and in turfgrass should be dug out. There are tools specifically for digging out dandelions- Amazon.com carries a number of these.

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The Dandelion (Part I)

Abandonando el hogar by gonzalo_ar

Everyone knows the dandelion. And everyone knows that the common name dandelion is taken from the French word “dent de lion” meaning lion’s tooth, referring to the coarsely-toothed leaves.The Latin name is Taraxacum officinale.

The flowers at this time of year are quite lovely, but everyone knows the seeds will soon emerge and as soon as they do, dandelion seed will spread everywhere -by the wind, by children blowing the seeds, by animals rubbing against the seed ball or animals and birds. They say that the seed can spread as far as 5 miles from the original site.

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More about Dandelions

Dandelion Fireworks-PHOTO 183-The halfway mark by aussiegall

TheGardenLady enjoyed Christy Baker’s guest post about dandelions that is on TheGardenLady blog. I hope the readers liked reading it, too.

Growing up on a truck farm, I am proud to report that the adjacent town to my town is known today as the dandelion capital of the world. Even the New York Times had an interesting article about Dandelion growing in Vineland, NJ.

Because dandelions were so prevalent, I always wanted to try a recipe for dandelion wine. Obviously lawns, when I was growing up, were not so pristine as they are these days. No one, that I knew, used any herbicides to kill dandelions. They may have been considered weeds even then. I can’t remember, but we children always loved them and loved blowing on the seed heads, dispersing more seeds to turn into yet more dandelions. And the flowers and leaves were always healthy to eat.

Wine recipes always read as an easy wine to make.  But I never tried. However, we had the dandelion leaves for salad.  No one that I knew ever heard of arugela in those days for the bitter green in a salad.

Someone observed that the healthiest diet is the one poor people had to eat in the old days. So consider adding dandelion greens to your diet for health reasons as well as a more diverse green palatte in the salad bowl.

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Dandelion: The Unappreciated Medicinal Warrior

Sinfonía de cristal (Taraxacum officinale) - Dandelion by Arbego

With the dawn of a new year and the approach of spring this is the perfect time to do some internal spring cleaning. Clearing out the buildup of winter feasts is a great way to jump start your system and ensure optimal health.

Dandelion - All Things must pass by Batikart

TheGardenLady has invited people with horticultural interests and expertise to contribute posts to this blog.  The following post  was submitted by Christy Baker, a certified Family Herbalist and Consulting Herbalist.   Christy is currently pursuing a certificate in Horticulture Therapy and a second Master’s in Landscape Architecture.

With a 30 million year history originating in Eurasia, Dandelion, Taraxacum Officinale, was once revered for its healing properties. Today however, most people think of it as a brightly colored nuisance, especially gardeners; the self fertilizing herbaceous plant does a very good job evading eviction. Instead of relentlessly fighting the Dandelion, try embracing its presence, for as many herbalists and naturalists know this small unassuming plant is a nutritious wonder.

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