BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?

Subject: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,Gern
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 09:19 PM

Not to interrupt more pressing matters, but has anyone in the eastern US seen these former annoyances lately? Looking out my front window in Vermont, the dandelions ordinarily outnumber the grass. Not this year. Almost none have blossomed. Conspicuous in their absence here in New England. Any other gardeners noticing this trend. Is it cyclical or is it suspicious? Brought over by the British as ornamental flowers, they spread into a continental menace. Are they going the way of the polar bear? Will they take the thistle with them?

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 09:47 PM

Isn't this past their normal blooming time? I usually have plenty early ... can't remember how many I saw earlier.

(Maybe the huge increase in climbing vines has robbed them of CO2)

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 10:25 PM

As Bill D said, this is a bit past their time. Earlier- maybe until a month or so ago - we had tons of them in southeastern Alaska (I like them) but they're not here now.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 10:41 PM

Is anyone else missing the monarch butterfly this year?

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 10:58 PM

I had a blanket of yellow in the... what was it, early June? Then it was a pile of poofy white. The milk weed was done blooming in early July, I think. Now it's goldenrod, Joe Pye, orange jewel weed, Queen Anne's lace and something that might be angelica out back.

I saw a few monarchs earlier this year, but I haven't seen many of ANY butterflies. I have such a huge crop of milkweed this year, I would have expected a load of monarchs.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: ranger1
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 11:08 PM

Plenty of dandelions here in mid-coast Maine earlier in the season. And they were part of the colonial herb gardens and not ornamentals. Every part of the plant can be used.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 11:11 PM

Thank you, Mr Monsanto. May you rot in Hell.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 11:50 PM

Mr Monsanto had nothing to do with me Dandies.

Mr Monsanto: May you rot in Hell.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 01:32 AM

BTW, isn't Queen Anne's Lace a much nicer name than Cow-Parsley, which that plant is usually called over here in UK?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 02:30 AM

Queen Anne's Lace? Cow-Parsley? WTF? Never heard them called either of those, by anyone in the UK. They might call them by those names dahn sarf in Southern-Softy-Land, but in the Backwoods of Lincolnshire, where they indeed proliferate, they're Dandelions plain and simple! :-) :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,Musket curious
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 02:30 AM

Too many syllables. Stick with "flowers" easier to sing.

Out of interest, I haven't noticed any loss this side of the pond if my paddocks have any relevance. The lawns have them too. Presumably, and I'm no botanist, different strains?

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 02:55 AM

No, BWM. You misread both Jeri's post & mine replying to it. He was mentioning the plants that are about tho dandelions aren't just now, & I was pointing out another name for one of them. Of course dandelions are bloody dandelions in anybody's language!

FYI, Qn·Anne's·Lace/Cowparsley are those tall spreading plants with the composite small white flowers at the end of a mass of tall stems.

Wikipedia:-- Anthriscus sylvestris, known as cow parsley, wild chervil, wild beaked parsley, keck, or Queen Anne's lace



~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnomad
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 03:32 AM

Not quite in anybody's language, to the French they are les pissenlits (apt, when considering their diuretic effects)

I don't recall any shortage this year here in the UK, and they don't seem much affected by annual variations in climate so maybe chemicals are he culprit.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 03:53 AM

Aaaaaaahhhhh! Apologies, Michael. In my dotage I'm finding lapses of concentration, attention and comprehension are becoming more and more frequent! Or, as Homer would put it - D'oh!   :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: JennieG
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 04:43 AM

Into my front lawn.......

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 06:08 AM

I like to let the first crop on my lawn go to seed. Meself and the bees think they are pretty. I am not sure what the present weeds, which resemble dandelions because they are yellow but single stemmed and the stem is tall and of "regular structure", are called but the bees reeeealy like em. I mow them down on Mum's lawn but wait until the grass on my lawn threatens to cause mower clog. Besides, my neighbour has a beautifully lanscaped property with an "immaculate" lawn. Each blade of grass is identical... and chemical. I think it's an ugly of the vilest kind.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: ranger1
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 06:15 AM

Dandelions are single-stemmed, gnu. Take me a picture and I can probably figure it out for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,Ed T
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 07:48 AM

Are there not a few varieties of this plant, some that bloom earler and some later?

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: maeve
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 08:08 AM

The present yellow dandy-type plants are likely Hawkweed, gnu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieracium_caespitosum

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 10:09 AM

A host of names for dandelions in English, let alone other languages. Here's a list I found. (And the Botanist Latin name is Taraxacum, which I rather like the sound of. It sounds like an exotic destination in an adventure story.)

Common names: Dandelion, Common Dandelion, Lion's Tooth, Blow Ball, Puffball, Cankerwort, Monk's Head, Priest's Crown, Fairy Clock, Peasant's Clock, Doonheadclock, Fortuneteller, Irish Daisy, Swine Snort, Pissabed.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Jeri
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 10:18 AM

Queen Anne's Lace/Cow Parsley is also Wild Carrot. If you've ever pulled one up, you know why. Apparently the roots are edible, but they must be difficult to clean.

I have yet to eat Dandelions, although I've had Dandelion wine.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: michaelr
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 01:15 PM

Where Have All the Dandelions Gone? The little bastards pop up in my front yard by the dozen. I don't use weedkiller, so if anyone knows of a non-toxic way to get rid of them, please tell me.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 01:32 PM

Try some dandelion as an addition in a green salad. Or cook some along with spinach. A nice taste addition.

I remember "wine" made from the blossoms.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 01:40 PM

Thanks r1. m nailed it as Hawkweed. Hmmmm... want me ta send ya some, Bobert? Must make ya soar.

"non-toxic way to get rid of them" I used to use an old triangularly shaped carving knife taped (duct tape, of course) to a broom handle and it worked a treat without the $ of one a them there step-on weed pullers. After my chemically inclined neighbours expressed their disdain (one said extremely sarcastically, "Nice crop of weeds you have there."), I like using fertilizer and, as I said, letting the pretty little bastards go to seed. So much so that I have to vacuum the screens in my windows and doors. Evil... ain't I? >8-D

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 03:40 PM

Last summer was a terrible time for us in Missouri and in many other places. Hot, hot weather and very little rain. This year is much better, but we are feeling the after-effects by seeing very few butterflies.

The night isn't as noisy with the sounds of insects, either. I hope that populations will rebuild. Insects lay millions of eggs, after all.

I like to grow plants that support butterflies and other interesting insects.

About dandelions - I'm not a picky gardener, but my place has almost no dandelions. They are a weak plant, and removing them really does work. Since they are an invasive Eurasian species for me, I have compunction about killing them.

I once tried tender young dandelions greens in a salad. They tasted like weeds.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 03:55 PM

Goodness leeneia, 'a weak plant'? Here, they have a long, tough taproot which breaks off when you try to extract it. Even a tiny bit left under the ground produces a new dandelion plant next season. One seed head produces dozens of airborne seeds which germinate rapidly. If left unmolested in a lawn they cover it and there's no more grass, just dandelions. I've had dandelion wine, which tasted like cats' wee (not that I make a habit of drinking cats' wee!) but the leaves are quite nice, a bit spicy and crunchy. Here in the East of UK we have quite bad droughts, but the old dandelions don't mind it a bit. I still like these jaunty yellow flowers though. They just have to be kept under control a little. I've always known the name Queen Anne's Lace for cow parsley. My fav. weed is the Giant Hogweed, which grows enormously tall. The juice is toxic and causes skin blistering, but the soft idiots nowadays, who issue 'warnings' about almost everything, haven't the sense to admire but not touch, and insist on destroying them.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 24 Aug 13 - 07:22 PM

Our little lot has a large area behind that's a "city property" and gets no maintenance at all, so preventing "invasives" from bursting forth every spring is nearly impossible.

Persistent invasions of poison ivy and wild sumac are pretty uniform. I have resorted to chemical warfare to try to control the ivy, but have found the strongest chemicals easily available pretty much "ineffective." I'm considering perhaps napalm as a next step.

Since the sumac is "woody" the ones that can't just be whacked off by the lawnmower are just "banded" and left to die, but it's rather time consuming.

In previous years the dandelions have been plentiful, but there apparently has been a "change in management" of some adjacent rough ground and this year we saw almost none of them, with the new ornament being what my Ag agent says is "chickweed." It's also possible that the erratic drought-to-deluge weather has changed the dietary preferences of the local birds, since every new (previously unnoticed) growth seems to spring out of a clump of bird poop.

The chickweed doesn't seem to be inclined to grow very tall, which would reduce mowing needs, so I may investigate encouraging it as it seems to be of some help in crowding out the lambs quarter and sunflowers, although it does nothing for the wild grapes (inedible - although the mature fruit might work as ammo for a BB gun) on the back fence and has no effect on the "Russian thistle." I'm considering starting a couple of blackberry bushes as a counterterrorist force agains the grapes, since experience in the Seattle area indicated blackberries can kill out almost anything else, but I'm not sure the climate is right for vigorous growth. (In Seattle the blackberries also seemed somehow symbiotic with large slugs, and I'm not sure they're really desirable.)

A curious observation regarding the dandelions is that they never seem to appear on my "problem slope that can't be mowed." Maybe the 49% grade (27°) confuses them about "which way is up" and they just give up there(?). Or maybe it's a "drainage" thing, since the rain runs off without soaking in - although the grass seems to stay wet even longer there.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,Musket getting nostalgic
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 03:55 AM

I bought a can of dandelion and burdock pop the other day.

That took me back. ..

As a kid, on Friday nights I was sent across to the chippy for "one of each" (Worksop Speke for cod and chips with mushy peas) abd a bottle of dandelion and burdock.

Don't ask me why, but once I read it above, I recalled that they were known as pissabed too. I suppose putting them in fizzy pop and giving them to children tends to....

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 04:24 AM

"As a kid, on Friday nights I was sent across to the chippy for "one of each""

I can't think of what to to say about that...

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 04:50 AM

The enuretic effect is a sort of folklore, Wiki says

    Dandelions
    Anecdotal reports and folk wisdom say children who handle dandelions can end up wetting the bed. Dandelions are reputed to be a potent diuretic. English folk names for the plant are "peebeds" and "pissabeds". In French dandelions are called pissenlit, which means "urinate in bed"; likewise "piscialletto", an Italian folkname, and "meacamas" in Spanish.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: MMario
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 06:56 AM

JOhn-in-kansas; spray poison ivy with bleach. Kills it a treat. you may have to repeat a few times but it does kill it.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Janie
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 07:38 AM

In the USA Cow Parsley is usually the common name for the plant Anthriscus sylvestris. Queen Anne's Lace is the common name we use for Daucus carota. They are somewhat similar in appearance and I do see from a little research that Anthriscus sylvestris is also sometimes called Queen Anne's Lace.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,John J...notaguest
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 07:44 AM

S'funny, it was only yesterday that I mentioned the lack of dandelions in our back lawn to the Mrs JJ. Normally the lawn is peppered with the damned things.
We had a cold-ish and slightly longer last winter than usual here in NW England, but nothing else of note that might effect the dandelions.
JJ

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: MikeL2
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 10:31 AM

hi Wasn't that the name of a Pete Seeger Song ??? lol

You may not have many over there but here in my garden it has been one of the worst years for them. Cutting the grass lower and more often helps keep them down.

Lots of butter flies too. They have ruined my neighbour's cabbages.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 03:54 PM

Just wait.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 04:52 PM

I have not tried these but should be colorful.

Dandelion Blossom pancakes:

2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking soda,
pinch of salt,
two eggs,
1 cup of water,
4 T. olive oil,
2 c. dandelion flowers

Mix the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs in, then add the liquid and oil. Beat the oil and stir in the flowers. Spoon batter into a hot pan and cook like regular pancakes. Serve with maple syrup, yogurt or jam.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Rumncoke
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 05:17 PM

I live within sight of the sea on the South coast of England

There used to be lots of dandelions in my garden - I don't use any chemicals nor have I dug them up. I did feed the 'point of opening' seed heads to by budgerigars, but that seemed to have little effect on the numbers of plants and flowers - I used to disturb the open heads so the seeds were spread about when picking the ones for the birds.

I don't know why, but these days the dandelion is an endangered species on my patch, if not extinct.

The garden is certainly fertile, I have to fight back the brambles, but some usually survive to produce lots of berries, there are loads of apples again this year, there were quite a few gooseberries too.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 06:24 PM

As a result of putting feed out for a couple of stray cats during the sub-zero weather when they showed up, we had massive invasions of starlings in the early spring.

I don't think they ate all the dandelion seeds, but they dumped enough poop to just about kill the whole lawn. It is possible that the somewhat unusual weather had them looking for unusual places to invade, since they haven't been much of a problem for a couple of people with new-seeded lawns in recent past years.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 08:38 PM

Ebbie... "2 c. dandelion flowers" Really? The flowers? Hmmm... you first. Lemmie know.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 06:04 AM

We have a few o n our front lawn but I dunno if it is more or less than usual because we have only just moved it!

Funny it has a different name in France as as Dandelion is from the French dent-de-lion, meaning "lion's tooth". It is also a very useful plant as all parts of it can be used - Leaves and buds in Salads, Heads brewed into wine and roots dried and ground to provide a base for Dandelion coffee. Not tried any myself but the daughters reckon they are all fine.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 06:35 AM

Not moved 'it' - Difficult to move a lawn :-) We have not long since moved iN!

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: ranger1
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 07:38 AM

gnu, the flowers are supposed to be delicious. Can't be any stranger than my mum snapping a few nasturtium flowers out of a former neighbor's hanging flower pot and munching on them.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnomad
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 09:20 AM

If flower use in pancakes follows the practice when making dandelion wine you need to separate the flower petals before use. You don't want the green bracts (sometimes called sepals) which hold the petals together, as they are bitter and nasty.

BTW I thought gnu's plants were hawkweed rather than dandelion? I have no info on their consumption if so. Similarly leenia's "weak plant that tastes like weeds" (I paraphrase) leads me to wonder whether we are all discussing the same stuff? Wikipedia gives a number of plants that might possibly be taken for dandelion.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 10:44 AM

Flattish leaves with jagged edges (like lion's teeth) growing in the form of a rosette. Bright yellow flowers about 1.25 inches across and flat in profile. Forms a ball of seeds which blow away in the wind but don't actually go very far.

Easily killed by digging blow the 'crown' and snapping the tap root.
My property, which was neglected and weed-choked when we bought it, has almost no dandelions on it now.
=============
Another invader is 'gill over the ground' or 'creeping charlie.' Here's its picture:

http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/plants/wildflower/gillover.html

Creeping charlie smothers everything in its path, and pulling it up has no noticeable effect.

On a mild day last February, I looked at my back yard and noticed that everything was brown and dormant except the creeping charlie. (This is the mark of an invader. It doesn't know what the heck time of year it is.) I mixed up some Round-up and sprayed the creeping charlie. That proved very effective. I have very little CC on my place now.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 02:19 PM

gnomad... I got em both. They come at different times of the summer. The pic is of dandelions gone to seed. I got a whack of hawkweed on the go right now.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Ebbie
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 03:55 PM

"Whack o' Hawkweed". I like it. Maybe for a band?

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnomad
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 06:31 PM

OK, so to gnu, give the dandelions a go if you like, when available. The leaves are definitely decent for salads (if salad is your thing, it isn't everybody's) the flowers are safe but I dunno how they taste unless made into wine, which is alright. I'm sure there's good dandelion-flower wine to be had, but I've only encountered alright.

With hawkweed you are on your own, we await your reports with interest.

Leenia: that sounds right except the getting-rid-of-it bit. Lots of UK gardeners would give up their eye teeth as well as their first-born children, just to be rid of dandelions, maybe they need to move in near you. That gill over ground stuff looks pretty enough but sounds a real pain, luckily you seem to have got its measure.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: gnu
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 06:58 PM

Hawkweed.

Note the barren yard adjacent. No bees at his flowers. I have at least 100 bees on my front and back lawn at any given time.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 27 Aug 13 - 10:55 AM

We had a shedload of dandelions here in Staffordshire, but that was back in May and they all went to seed in June.

Subject: RE: BS: Where Have All the Dandelions Gone?
From: Rumncoke
Date: 27 Aug 13 - 12:12 PM

I searched everywhere for dandelions today. Where there would have been dozens in years gone by there is but one - and that one is cowering in a corner, presumably for shelter against something.

Nothing has been done to eradicate them - I always used to ensure that there were seeds left to start more plants when I was gathering the heads for the birds and I even blew the 'clocks' onto any open ground rather than leave it to chance.

Maybe the increasing heat has done for them.