Because of a cool, wet spring, the Chicago area has a bumper crop of dandelions. Surely you`ve noticed the yellow blossoms in the grass and the heavy tension in the air.
Yes, tension. Read what two horticultural specialists have to say to people who want to rid their lawns of this hardy perennial.
First, Thomas Antonio, a research taxonomist at Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe:
”Get a life. Quit wasting your time and money trying to destroy an interesting and beautiful plant that adds diversity to otherwise boring lawns. No wonder kids stay inside and play video games. They have no woods, no creeks to explore, no mystery in nature. We`ve sanitized it all. At least the dandelion is one flower kids can pick and not be yelled at. Except we`re trying to deprive them of even this small pleasure by the obsessive way we maintain our lawns.”
Next to draw a line in the dirt is Gerould Wilhelm, a research taxonomist at Morton Arboretum in Lisle:
”It`s downright neurotic to think dandelions shouldn`t be in your yard. It`s goofy. People need to get away from the clean, green, uniform look of the suburban lawn that`s mowed to the quick with edges straight as an arrow and without so much as a leaf allowed to desecrate its perfection. If people are so intent on having a sterile environment, why don`t they put a rug over their yards or cover them with Astroturf?”
Strong words that demand a reply.
Speaking on behalf of homeowners dedicated to eradicating dandelions is Jeffrey Bunn, a Chicago lawyer who spends countless non-billing hours each week maintaining the yard of the family home in Wilmette and is known among his male buddies as Chauncey the Gardener (for the Peter Sellers character in the 1979 movie ”Being There”).
Says Bunn: ”Philosophically I have no problem with environmental concerns. I like to think of myself as `of the Earth.` But a pristine green lawn provides the kind of quiet satisfaction that one can never derive from a lawn pockmarked by unsightly, unseemly, unwanted dandelions. Dandelion flowers are not unattractive, but after they`re gone, you`re left with a grotesque, purplish stalk and weedy bottoms. It`s a monstrous, nasty sight.”
Perhaps you agree with Antonio and Wilhelm. Perhaps you are delighted by the profusion of yellow flowers now growing in all the old familiar places: in lawns, parks, fields, meadows, along highways and byways, in the cracks of broken sidewalks.
Perhaps in recent days you have said to yourself or to family and friends: ”Aren`t dandelions glorious! To me, they`re like thousands of tiny sunbursts in a verdurous firmament or golden coins tossed on Mother Nature`s vast green carpet!”
Maybe your thoughts, like Jeff Bunn`s, are something along the lines of:
”How am I ever gonna get rid of these ugly, stinking, indestructible weeds!”
Maybe you don`t care one way or the other and are wondering why you`re still reading this article.
Or maybe you instinctively realize the dandelion is an important symbol, a flashpoint in the crucial struggle between two conflicting views of nature. A ravenous immigrant
The territory in contention-the battleground, if you will-is, of course, the lawns and minds of this great republic.
Indeed, would it be an overstatement to declare that the survival of our society depends on which side prevails?
Yes, it probably would.
Still, it won`t hurt any of us to consider the broader subject in some detail.
To defuse emotions, let`s begin with a sweet little poem by Joe Rosenblatt titled ”Of Dandelions & Tourists.”
Dandelions purr in their sleep.
The hillside is dotted with yellow cubs: compromises of cat & gladiola.
They sway adagio; juices in the tubes
catch tigers & spiders; ghosts go into analysis
& meow of surplus love
to the earth alive with blissful fur.
The following 18th Century haiku by Chiyojo of Japan should be easier to understand:
Dandelion: from time to time, it awakens a butterfly from dreams.
Now for a calm look at some basic information about The Plant That Will Not Go Away.
– Origins. Like many Americans, the dandelion has European roots, which doesn`t make it unique. Despite the name, this region`s most popular lawn species, Kentucky bluegrass, is also a European immigrant. In fact, much of the nation`s vegetation and virtually all its lawns come from northern Europe. We have, in effect, never seen the Illinois found by the first settlers from Europe. Our native flora has been annihilated.
– Child`s play. Kids have always whistled through the dandelion`s hollow stem and made necklaces from its flowers. They have never tired of blowing on the downy fluffballs that appear after the flowers go and watching the seeds float through the air on nature`s little parachutes.
– Names. ”The scientific name is Taraxacum officinale,” says Antonio.
”We think of the one species that`s in this country, but there are 60 species in the genus Taraxacum. One in Japan has white flowers and yellow centers. Some have pink or purplish blossoms. There`s a species in Russia that contains rubber.”
The word dandelion comes from the French dent de lion, which means
”lion`s tooth” and refers to the jagged leaves.
– Uses. Here`s Craig Claiborne`s recipe for a salad of Wilted Dandelion Leaves. Ingredients: 1 quart, coarsely shredded dandelion greens; 4 strips bacon, diced; 2 teaspoons sugar; 1/2 teaspoon salt; dash of freshly ground black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard; 3 tablespoons mild vinegar. Place greens in bowl, first removing tough roots and stems. Cook bacon crisp; add remaining ingredients to the bacon and fat and heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour mixture over dandelion greens and toss well.
Dandelion flowers are used for dandelion wine. Coffee is made from the roots.
Antonio: ”It also has medicinal qualities. It`s a great source of vitamin A. The leaves are rich in calcium and potassium. The Latin name for the genus is believed to refer to medicine, perhaps from the Greek taraxo, `I have caused,` and achos, meaning `pain.”`
– Why it lasts and proliferates. The dandelion`s huge tap root, which ranges from 18 inches to 5 feet in depth, makes it difficult to eliminate. The blowball is an extremely effective dispersal mechanism.
– Dandelion stress. Says Jeff Bunn: ”There`s a woman on our block whose yard is an abomination. It`s filled with dandelions. You`ll see pretty lawn after pretty lawn and then bam! There`s her Dogpatch. It`s upsetting. It gets everybody else in the neighborhood bent out of shape. Then when someone has a lawn-control service come out and spray chemicals on the dandelions, she`ll come around and read the riot act.”
– Peer pressure. There are no dandelions in sculptor Hy Leven`s handsome lawn in Skokie. ”Society sets it up so dandelions are not considered beautiful, but I don`t agree,” he says. ”I think the flowers are lovely.”
So why no dandelions? ”If we had them, ours would be the only lawn on the block that did. That makes it hard. I dug up each plant, one by one.” It was his way of paying homage. ”I`m ready to join a movement to keep them in lawns.”
– Control. Many homeowners hire professionals such as the giant Chemlawn Corp. or independent landscaping services.
Says John Crossmock, a chemical manager with Chemlawn: ”It`s the same as in sports: The best defense is a good offense. The best way to control dandelions is by having a thick, dense lawn. This gives you less area where seeds can fall, germinate and grow.”
Chemical sprays are the most effective treatment against dandelions.
”It`s generally futile to try to remove them by pulling them up. Once the plant is actively growing, we recommend a two-part process. First the use of a chemical weed-control product, then fertilization to encourage bluegrass or other desirable grasses. The program takes three to four weeks.”
That`s about the length of time the yellow flowers last. The leaves are another matter, as are the puffballs and the naked stalks. ”We don`t try to achieve 100 percent eradication,” Crossmock says. ”That`s impossible; 85 percent is considered acceptable. A visit to the average suburban lawn runs from $30 to $50.”
Like measles
Kyle Williams, owner of Green Thumb in Cary, says dandelions top the list of client complaints: ”They`re king of the weeds.” As for purists who decry efforts to rub them out, he says: ”Dandelions are like measles. They`re a disease that looks terrible when you get them all over the body of your lawn.”
– Final words from the Dandelions Forever! folks.
Antonio: ”The preoccupation with dandelions comes from the American need to control nature. I try to get people interested in native plants, but they`d rather have the same bland look their neighbors have. Many people pay others to care for their lawns. They only look at them when they pull into the driveway, then go inside and watch TV. No wonder it`s hard to get anyone interested in preserving the environment.”
Wilhelm: ”To regard dandelions as a bane is as much a fad as anything else. The difference is it might be environmentally costly. We don`t know the long-term effect of the chemicals we use. It`s absurd to do something we`re not sure about, especially when you can`t justify it rationally. There`s no fundamental human ethic or esthetic standard that demands our lawns be rid of dandelions 365 days of the year.”
