Dear Editor,
Thank you for your editorial on March 30 (“Walk on the weedy side”). I really enjoyed reading it.
With regard to the Dandelion, aka Lion’s Teeth, I agree that we have villanized a plant that has many useful and decorative qualities, as well as being healthful. Indeed, if it were only more difficult to grow and needed a warmer climate we would be eager to cultivate it.
I would like to add several of my favourite reasons for liking dandelions. One is the joy these flowers give young children: they like to pick bouquets, and they can make chains of flowers and use them as necklaces or crowns. I have spent many hours with young children doing exactly that, and it is a lovely way to spend some time on a spring afternoon.
Secondly, when the flowers are in the seed stage, picking up the seed heads and blowing them away leads to a lot of giggles and fun. I also think the landscape is very pleasant when it is full of dandelion blossoms. While, like you, I don’t plan on making dandelion blossom fritters, I do enjoy a few leaves of young dandelion in my salad bowl.
For those who are interested, you can purchase dandelion seeds from nursery catalogues. West Coast Seeds lists two varieties, the original and one with pinkish-yellow flowers which has less bitter leaves and is hardy in our garden zones.
In closing, I would like to point out that while the young dandelion plant in the spring is eagerly sought out by bears in my area, the dandelion otherwise really is a deer-resistant plant if there ever was one.
Barbara Hendricks
Loon Lake, B.C.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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