My lawn is full of dandelions.
Glowing in the sunlight, shivering in the breeze. My lawn is full of golden treasure...
The lawnmower died last summer, and the once-tidy green expanse outside my window suffered a series of disastrous patchy scalpings for the rest of the year as I struggled to tame it with the strimmer.
This spring I have not yet cut the grass, which has suddenly spurted into growth. It is beautiful, lush, green - thick with dandelions, daintily dotted with lady's smock and nodding cowslips.
My neighbour used to wage war on dandelions each spring, pulling them up and chopping them down in a furious and futile battle to contain their exuberance and stop them spreading little parachute-puff seeds far and wide.
My neighbour passed away. The dandelions nonchalantly survived her feverish assaults and have spread with joyous, reckless abandon.
Now bees bumble contentedly as they feast on the abundant, incandescent blooms, and swallows swoop, chattering gleefully in the blue spring sky.
I put the strimmer away, unused for another day, and go to lie among the dandelions in the warm, damp grass.
golden treasure in more ways than one, they are the first spring food for bees and butterflies. Rich in nectar and pollen; they are essential for our precious insects.
ReplyDeleteI love, love dandelions! have no idea why people proceed to cut them or pull them... do you eat the leaves? or use the root for a drink?
ReplyDeleteit seems the dandelions are having the last laugh on your neighbour!!
Dandelions, daisies, clover. All those so-called weeds just make everything look so much more pretty. Far more interesting than a manicured lawn. And, as Charlotte mentioned, an all-you-can-eat buffet for the buzzers!
ReplyDeletemmmmmmm laying on warm long grass watching the bees ......... sounds like heaven to me
ReplyDeleteI love laying in the warm sun, surrounded by shinning dandelions.
ReplyDeleteCareful, they are dents de lion... lion's teeth! Love their gold tho' and their prophecy of Sunflowers yet to come.
ReplyDeleteThe French also call them er, pisse en lit ahem for their other qualities.
I've dandelion wine fermenting on the side today as I was similarly inspired by the golden blooms. Dandelions can do as they like in my garden!
ReplyDeleteWhen mother nature hands you dandelions, make dandelion wine!
ReplyDeleteOur chickens adored dandelion leaves they were never a problem on our lawn
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful prose! When I was a little girl I picked bouquets of dandelions for my mother and she placed them in water and treasured them until they wilted. I honestly don't mind them a bit in my yard either.
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