That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden dandelions;
William Wordsworth (near enough)
Photo taken today in the hills above Milldale. Even though dandelions are a constant menace in the garden, I find myself admiring the remarkable toughness of the little blighters. When they flower en masse like this they can look quite spectacular too.
Knowing what they are takes some of the edge off it, but not entirely. This was just a small section of a large field carpeted with them from dry stone wall to dry stone wall.
6 comments:
"Even though dandelions are a constant menace in the garden, I find myself admiring the remarkable toughness of the little blighters."
“If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn.”
(Andrew Mason)
Supposedly not only are all parts of the plant edible but they are packed with useful nutrition and very good for you. You can eat the leaves in salads, or make home brewed wine or jelly. Dandelion tea made from the roots is a traditional tonic and apparently even helps reduce cholesterol.
So mock the dandelion at your peril :-)
...but wear an extra pair of underpants in bed, eh...
Guinea pig heaven.
What about the burdock I ask? Mrs. Wordsworth's best friend was the mother of the chap who built the first property, now demolished, on the site where we live. Another son, his brother was Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Victoria and a Canon at Westminster Abbey. We like to see daffodils in the garden. Small world.
Sam - virtually defines weeds doesn't it?
Woodsy - I once made dandelion wine. The colour was good but it wouldn't ferment out and was too sweet to drink. I'd try the leaves in a salad but where do you get an uncontaminated supply? Dogs are everywhere.
Scrobs - when we were boys a friend of my cousin used dandelion stalks as straws to drink the local brook water.
Sackers - rabbits too, although we didn't see any. Maybe that is why the dandelions were so rampant.
Demetrius - is it worth putting up a blue plaque?
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