Oh Thou Wicked Wicked Dandelion

Dandelions in all their glory.

This article is written in response to Councillor Scott's article titled 'In favour of an ounce of prevention' which appeared in the Townsman on Thursday June 21st.

It saddens me to read an article such as was published in last week’s Townsman, about the much, maligned Dandelion.  Councillor Scott took up almost half a page to explain her rationale for ‘an ounce of prevention’, namely an application of herbicide.  The illness is a large number of Dandelions on the strip.  It is true an application of selective herbicide will temporarily reduce the number of Dandelions but Scott’s rationale is seriously flawed.

Dandelions do not have the affliction. We do.  The affliction – our psychologically induced abhorrence for Dandelions. If our expectation is a smooth and lush green sward along the strip, the conditions need to be appropriate for grass to grow well and the ability to maintain the grass needs to be in place.

The reason so many Dandelions inhabit this Cranbrook artery is because the conditions are perfect for Dandelions!  The soil is poor, maintenance low and seeds are easily swept along by both natural and vehicle induced breezes. Unfortunately there is no real herbicide cure for the so-called Dandelion scourge that scars our strip – if you view it is a scourge.  Dandelions will always come back.

Dandelions do not cause erosion as Councillor Scott implied.  They are one of the few plants that can quickly colonize and stabilize poor and compacted soil.  Their long taproots can reach far down to the moisture and nutrients trapped deep in the soil.  The wide flat leaves funnel moisture to where it is needed.  They are prolific by way of their wind spread parachute seeds. 

Dent de lion – Tooth of a lion – named after the tooth-like pattern of the leaf, these clever, opportunistic plants contain very high concentrations of vitamins and essential nutrients.  They are edible, make good wine and in World War Two were grown for their latex producing abilities.

Councillor Scott wrote, “People say the flowers are good for bees. However are they good for other creatures?”  A closer observation of many creatures large and small would quickly demonstrate to her what a great food source dandelions are.  One of the main causes for the demise of bees and many birds is our overuse of herbicides and pesticides, yet insect pollination is essential to our food supply.  This is reason enough to seriously reconsider our obsession with grass areas devoid of every other plant that might be mowed. 

“No rich soil for worms,” her article goes on.  The cause of the poor soil is not the Dandelions.  In fact, it is quite the other way around.  Dandelions are one plant that helps to open up the barren and compacted ground to more moisture and oxygen, enabling worms and other plants to move in.  Birds, bees and other insects are dependent on plants like this.

What do we truly want and what are we ready to pay for when it comes to landscaping on the strip?  For the type of landscaping Councillor Scott would like to see, optimum conditions need to be put in place first and then there needs to be a continual intensive program of care.  Formal landscaping requires very high maintenance and is costly in every sense of the word.  Our climate and topography are not the same as Vancouver and the strip is not a golf course. 

So what alternatives are there?

Possibilities include artificial turf, concrete and asphalt……. or we could consider clover or a more natural mix of plants including Dandelions, Lupins and other wild flowers that could still be mowed occasionally. Clover lawns maintain their green much more consistently than turf and can be mowed more often and just as easily as turf.  A planting of trees, which we now have, surrounded by a more meadow-like selection of flowers and grass is more akin to this part of the world and would be lower maintenance, lower cost and would not need applications of herbicide.  A cultural shift and a high dose of tolerance will be necessary for these alternatives to exist but it would seem more than prudent to start asking ourselves about the financial cost of high maintenance as well the cost to our health and food supplies by using pesticides and herbicides when they are not essential.   Keep the high maintenance formal landscaping to beautiful and colourful well-contained planters and the plantings already in place.

Regardless of the choice of landscaping for our strip and parks we must take our lumps, bumps, ants and all for they are part of the natural environment on which we all depend for our lives.  Let’s keep it as healthy as we are able, learn to love the Dandelions when they are in bloom, pick them, make crowns with them as children do, make soup or wine, pull some in your own lawns with the handy dandy weed pullers now available but most importantly, learn to not despise them for although they will not prickle you as Councillor Scott suggests, they will outsmart you. 

Jenny Humphrey