Here’s a link for you to look at if you’d like to know more about this event.
My favorite color is yellow – I suppose because it makes me feel happy. In our neck of the woods, the puffy little yellow flowers are called weeds, but this event celebrates and protects dandelions! I hope you’ll take a look at the link because it looks like they are gearing up for some serious fun.
I just finished designing a cute poem by Lucinda. It’s about… you guessed it – DANDELIONS! I have to share it today.How much do you know about dandelions? Well, beginning with the bad news, 30% of America’s water supply is spent watering lawns in an effort to keep non-native grasses green and weed free. Pesticides are applied to kill off dandelions and other weeds as well. Dandelions are common weeds that can harm your lawn’s growth by establishing deep roots in the soil.
Now it’s time to hear the good qualities: The dandelion flower opens when the sun comes up and closes when the sun goes down. Some folks eat dandelion salads! They are also used for medicine and even dye for clothing. Before the 1800’s people actually pulled the grass from their lawns to make room for dandelions and other useful weeds like chickwee, chamomile and malva. Most people cannot name the weeds in their yard, but almost everyone knows a dandelion by sight. Why are these puffy golden flowers called dandelions? It’s taken from the French word “dent de lion” which means lions tooth, referring to the coarsely-toothed leaves.
Dandelions are God’s happy yellow spots dotted across pasture land.
The First Dandelion
Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close emerging,
As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been,
Forth from its sunny nook of shelter’d grass–innocent, golden, calm as the dawn,
The spring’s first dandelion shows its trustful face.
Source: “Leaves of Grass,” by Walt Whitman
Isn’t the simplicity of spring a blessing? I think the most precious thing to see is a child walking toward me carrying a wicker basket filled with dandelions. Let’s make memories we can cherish our whole lives. 🙂