Dandelions are NOT weeds
My mum would always look at my garden and say, “I’ll come and help you,” which was always code for, “your garden’s a mess.” I would get frustrated that she felt pulling weeds out of the ground should matter to me, when living on my own running 2 businesses and having a house to maintain.
“I don’t live in the garden,” would always be my comment.
When I first moved in I’d dug up the grass, laid weed fabric down and covered it with slate in an effort to keep the garden looking neat.
Looking back, I’d removed a beautiful wild area in order to bow to common opionion and social conditioning around gardens being, “tidy,” and, “looking loved.”
The weeds always found their way through, “pull them up before they seed,” was what I’d get told. “This grass is impossible to remove, it just keeps coming back.” Even the neighbours putting their noses in and commenting on the lack of gardening activity. I’d always feel guilty.
Now? I’m pulling up the weed fabric, scattering wild flower seeds, letting the garden take care of itself. It’s not, “MY garden.” I don’t live in it, but lots of other beings do. It’s a shared space and I can influence it for the best interests of those who visit it for food, sanctuary, a home. Insects are so much more important than what my neighbours think.
Take care of the “littlies, for without them there are no “biggies”
I find myself cheering for the little green lives that fight their way out of the cracks, against all odds to breathe life.
“Why do you call me a weed?” I am strong, resillient, your attempts to kill me don’t stop me trying to live. I am anything but a, “weed,” I am not weak.
You spray us with chemicals, you even try to burn us to death. But this is not one of your wars, resorting to chemical warfare, just because you’ve been conditioned to see your outdoor space as a controllable environment.
Your, “weed killers,” not only harm us but they harm those who depend on us. The irony of the situation is that YOU ALL depend on us and our insect visitors to survive.
Why do you insist that wild, free nature must be neat? “Your lawn,” is made up of a network of kingdoms of life both above and below the surface. Are your “pleasing lines,” more desirable than the health of the eco system?
Dandelions
I want to tell you specifically about Dandelions as they have a special place in my heart.
My childhood sweetheart – Swifty BunBun – my English rabbit who I loved to the moon and back, was very fond of them. One of my happiest memories is watching Swifty munch his twitchy little nose from the stalk of the Daffodil, all the way to the flower, which just disappeared in the blink of an eye. I remember hearing the tone of the tube of the stem changing as it got shorter and shorter as the flower got closer and closer to his munchy mouth. Weeds my arse.
They represent the sun as a beautiful cheerful yellow flower hailing Spring’s arrival. They represent the moon when they transform into “dandelion clocks.” The seeds as they blow away represent the stars.
They open to greet the sun, and tuck themselves away to sleep for the night. They feed a myriad of pollinators including butterflies and bees, not to mention all of the other creatures up the food chain.
Up until the 1800’s, people would pull up the grass to make way for them, how times have changed.
Every year, countries spend millions on pesticides to get rid of them so we can have neat lawns.
When you see the mainstream media adverts from the manufacturers, you could be forgiven that having dandelions is akin to being in a horror movie where you can’t kill the monster. Or worse still, they are mocking you! People forget that this poison enters the earth, our waterways and then back to us.
It’s time society took a long hard look at its ingrained opinions on, “gardens.” Let's leave some wild for the wildlife.
