I Love Dandelions!

(3 Minute Read. 7Jul2021)

Many years ago when our children were young, a green-lawn salesman stopped by to sell me on his lawn service while I was in our front yard. The conversation went something like this.

LawnGuy: I can take care of these weeds for a nominal cost.
Me: Take care of? Do you mean fertilize, water, and tenderly nourish my weeds?
LawnGuy: No. Kill them.
Me: How?
LawnGuy: Herbicides.
Me: You want me to pay you to spread poison around my yard?
LawnGuy: Toxicity fades in a week. Then we’ll come back to reapply. You should keep your kids off the lawn anyway. They’re wearing holes in it.
Me: We raise kids here, not grass.
LawnGuy: How can you find them in the weeds?
Me: I blow my whistle and they come running.
LawnGuy: You really should do something about these weeds.
Me: Why kill perfectly healthy green plants? The broad leaves are better ground cover than thin grass blades, and broad leaves produce more oxygen than blades. I like oxygen.
LawnGuy: (yanking up dandelions) These would be easy to get rid of.
Me: Hey! Don’t pull those up! My beautiful yellow dandelion flowers are natural lawn decorations. Besides, their greens are nutritious — you can eat them. Does anybody ever eat lawn grass?
LawnGuy: Well, I could at least fertilize so your grass would grow thicker and greener.
Me: That’ll force more grass-cutting time and pollute the atmosphere with exhaust fumes from the mower.
LawnGuy: But your yard would look better.
Me: Are you an evolutionist?
LawnGuy: Of course. Do I look stupid?
Me: In that case, why would you interfere with nature and impose your “look better” values on my plants? Shouldn’t we let the fittest plants survive? Who are we to say one plant is more deserving of space in my yard than another?

LawnGuy left shaking his head. It was one of my most effective dealings with a salesman ever.

Dandelions

Dandelions are one of my favorite plants! They are both beautiful, edible, and medicinal. Most people consider them disgusting weeds and abhor them. But I love them.

I like the pure, unmuted, bright yellow color of the flowers. It’s so cheerful to look at a field full of glowing yellow dandelions. You can view them either as a hundred weeds or as a hundred blessings.

Thankfully, the dandelion does not know that many people think it is a weed. It continues to grow, spread, prosper, and bless those who appreciate its beauty and benefits.

The dandelion is a sturdy plant. Despite millions of gallons of poison dedicated to its extermination and despite being indiscriminately tromped over by innumerable pedestrians, the dandelion still prospers. The keys to its prosperity are its long taproot and its fluff ball of seeds.

The taproot is usually two to three feet long, but it can reach up to 15 feet since it grows deeper every year. The taproot or a piece of the taproot regenerates the dandelion plant if the plant is torn out of the ground without the root. The long taproot brings up nutrients from deep in the ground for plants with shallow roots like grass. So dandelions are actually fertilizers for grass.

A single dandelion fluff ball can yield up to 400 seeds, but usually it’s around 200. A dandelion plant produces from 2,000 to 12,000 seeds per year since it blooms and goes to seed repeatedly spring to fall. The seeds are dispersed by the wind and can float on the wind for miles.

I admit that when dandelions go to seed, the fluff balls of seeds may seem unattractive. But lawn mowers solve that problem, and the mowers spread the seeds for more pretty yellow flowers.

Dandelion Uses

Dandelions have been used by many peoples for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese as well as Europeans and American Indians all used dandelions for food, herbs, and medicine. The Pilgrims included dandelion plants on the Mayflower for medicinal uses.

Dandelion greens for sale at Whole Foods
Memphis, TN. May 2019

All parts of the dandelion plant are edible. The greens can be eaten cooked or raw like spinach, and they are a good source of vitamins A, C, and K along with the minerals iron, calcium, manganese, and potassium. They also contain vitamin E and some B vitamins. During the Victorian era, the English treated dandelions as delicacies for salads and sandwiches.

Dandelions contribute to the health of many other plants. They are one of the most important early spring sources of nectar for pollinators like bees and butterflies. Dandelions also release ethylene gas, which helps fruit ripen.

With so much beauty and so many uses, it is no wonder that dandelions are cultivated worldwide from personal gardens to huge farms.

Dandelion Origins

Where did dandelions come from? According to the historical record in Genesis, dandelions are one of God’s earliest creations. As a plant they were created on Day Three, preceding all animals, birds, and fish. God created dandelions before the sun, moon, and stars. This strikingly contradicts the theory of evolution which says sea organisms evolved before plants and says sun and stars preceded plants. Not true.
Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (Genesis 1:11-13)

Dandelions are a marvelous creation of the Almighty, full of beauty, nutrition, and practical uses. Next time you see a dandelion, munch on a leaf and thank God for dandelions.

Watch for next week’s sequel article Genius Dandelions!

Questions to Ponder

1. Which concept above could help ease your irritation with dandelions?
2. In what other area do evolutionists conveniently ignore their own doctrine of survival of the fittest ?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

For Christ and His Kingdom. Soli Deo Gloria. Alere Flammam Veritatis.

Read the sequel:
Genius Dandelions

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday July 7, 2021 A.D.

“Ah Lord GOD! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

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