Dandelions: Fight them or love them?

It is a childhood favorite but is disliked by most adults. It’s the dandelion — the little, yellow flower that shows up early in the spring and seems to grow better than everything else. Why does such a favorite flower become a most-hated flower as you grow up? And does this flower really deserve to be hated?

Dandelion History

Technically, dandelions are an invasive species. However, they have been in America so long that it might not be considered invasive anymore. Dandelions were brought over from Europe to be used as medicine in the American colonies. In addition, dandelions do not really pose a threat to any native plant or animal. With its long history and non-threatening behavior, the dandelion can almost be called native.

People did not always fight dandelions. In the 1800s people would actually pull out grass to make room for more dandelions to grow.

Dandelion Conundrum

There is a debate about the fate of the front yard dandelion that has some questioning their past practices. While many adults work to rid their yards of dandelions, others insist we should let dandelions live, as they benefit bees.

The bee population has decreased sharply over the past 15 years. Bees are an important part of our ecosystem because they pollinate plants, including food crops.

The dandelion is one of the first flowers to sprout in spring, providing bees with a first meal before the other flowers start to bloom. Removing the dandelions early in spring make finding food harder for the bees.

How you remove the dandelions can be more important than removing them. Some studies appear to show that when bees drink the nectar from a plant that was recently sprayed with pesticide, the bee is harmed. Our use of chemicals might be at least somewhat responsible for the decline in the bee population. Scientists are still scrambling to figure out the cause of this problem. And it is a big problem; we must have pollinators.

In addition, every year people spend millions of dollars on chemicals that remove native weeds from their lawn in order for non-native grasses to grow. More than 30 percent of our water supply is also used to keep these non-native grasses alive.

Dandelion Biology

Dandelions grow close to the ground, which means that lawn mowers do not phase them a bit. They grow a long taproot that can reach as deep as 6 feet below ground. This helps them survive dry spells by pulling water from far underground. The long root also helps the plant grow back when it is damaged, as you will rarely pull out the entire plant. The dandelion’s hardiness is a positive for us — the long and strong dandelion root helps break up hard-packed soils. This helps condition the soil to be healthier and more fertile for other plants.

The plant will form a bud that typically lasts a week, then opens up with a yellow flower. The flower only lasts for a couple days and closes each night. Then the flower and the stalk droop back down to the ground. Next the stem straightens up again and opens to show the white fluffy ball of seeds. Each white puffball has about 100 seeds that float up to five miles in the wind.

Next time you see that dandelion pop up in your yard, think about its incredible history and biology. And if you decide to pull it up, you might want to include it on your dinner plate as every part of it is edible Mike Szydlowski is the science coordinator for Columbia Public Schools. assuming you didn’t spray it with chemicals.

Mike Szydlowski is the science coordinator for Columbia Public Schools.