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I can’t fathom why anyone hates dandelions. The entire plant is edible and they’re a cute little flower.
Some people are allergic to joy.
Not joy in general; just other people’s joy.
Some people derive joy from seeing others suffer, that’s true.
joy is bitter killer
And they are amazing for bees
I heard their pollen doesn’t provide enough nutrients for the hive/queen. Specifically protein.
Here’s a link to neat bee article. Go pollinators!
https://www.gardenmyths.com/dandelions-important-bees/
Protein contains amino acids, and some of these amino acids are essential. That means the organism can not make them; they have to get them in food. Dandelion pollen is low in valine, isoleucine, leucine and arginine, essential amino acids for honey bees.
Dandelion is consider a poor quality source of protein for bees.
Still better than short cut grass.
That’s true, but it’s better than no flowers. I see this comment pop up pretty regularly in reference to dandelions as a source for pollinators as if eliminating the flower would be of little impact. Dandelions are one of the first flowers to show up for the pollinators, even if they don’t provide the best food for insects it’s still something, especially in sterile modern suburban landscapes. .
That link lists the first foods for pollinators. Lots of things on that list which surprised me. We’re replanting our yard with native plants this year. If you like birds and wildlife this is the best way to attract them.
I also learned this year dandelions aren’t native to North America.
That’s where clover and wild strawberry come in to play.
Yeah, I don’t even get mad at them any more. They are hardcore survivors and proliferators, and will have a welcome haven in my lawn to piss off dick neighbors like in the post
Did you know you can get them in pink and white?
Really piss off your neighbors!
I saw a bunny once systemically behead a bunch of dandelions in an area. It was cute and scary.
Goats love dandelions. It’s like cocaine
They’re technically an invasive species in North America. Been around long enough now that they could maybe be considered native. If you’re looking to do a natural lawn in NA, though, you should probably still consider them a weed.
That’s a good point, and I fact I keep forgetting. Probably because the people who typically take issue with them aren’t concerned about native species (if they were, they wouldn’t like the grass either).
maybe they’re allergic to the pollen
Dandelions never hurt anybody.
You must not have met HOAs.
HOAs have hurt people.
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I’m sure there must be some based HOAs out there that encourage this sort of thing instead of forbidding it. You just have to not live in Normieville.
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I don’t see why it would have to be though. A bunch of oddballs could certainly get together and create one to protect diversity in their neighborhood from a normie invasion.
The most well-intentioned HOAs can easily go to shit when power-tripping assholes, with all the free time in the world, take them over.
The reverse is true as well, take over your HOA if you’re so angry at it
If structured through direct consensus democracy, rather than the appointment of leaders, the Karens will be powerless.
For the same reason why very few companies are worker owned co-ops: people suck and capitalism doubly so. That’s why we very rarely can have nice things.
In the case of HOAs, the bad ones (which are the vast majority of them) exist to extract profit (in the form of increasing property values, fining anyone who doesn’t follow their petty rules, and sometimes even take someone’s home for breaking the aforementioned rules) and exert as much control over people as possible.
In the US at least, laws regarding HOAs are a grotesque combination of under-regulation and regulations specifically crafted to FACILITATE abuse rather than discourage it.
Perhaps, but as long as there is no law that says you can’t have an HOA that fines you for having a McMansion with a monoculture lawn instead of a natural one, it’s at least possible in theory.
I pay an HoA, its like $30 a year. While they dont encourage it, they dont care either. They really dont do anything except twice a year they bring out garbage trucks/dumpsters to the nearby school to dump/recycle things too big for a trash can.
In Germany the city does that at least in smaller cities. Twice a year you can put all stuff that doesn’t go into regular trash out at the street and it gets collected. Think broken furniture, old electronics etc. People empty their garages and basements of all the stuff that accumulated. It’s common to have a walk through the neighborhood on these days to see if there is some cool stuff in there. Got my first skateboard that way as a teenager.
80% of new developments in America have HOAs. We’re totally fucked.
But they did stand in the way of this guy selling herbicide
Dandelions actually do important work for your lawn. They break up the hardened soil to make the ground softer for the grass to grow in. Letting dandelions grow will lead to a more beautiful lawn.
I like dandelions. I’d let them grow even without the additional benefits just because they’re pretty. And also fun for kids when the seeds mature and you can pluck them and blow them into the wind.
I completely agree. But for all those that want the lawn to be beautiful and healthy it’s good to have that knowledge about them. They’re useful and good looking. And you can make shitty wine from them.
I’ll pass on the wine but I’m down for everything else.
Reasonable
How shitty of a wine are we talking about here? Boxed wine that’s been exposed directly to the sun for months?
Not too bad, not too good.
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Also, pollinators love them!
They do!
I will never understand lawns.
Lawns became symbols of the elite in England, as wealthy landowners sought to show off their gains via the most ostentatious displays possible outside stately homes.
Colonizing landowners were keen to replicate the look of a manicured English garden. As such, English imperialism is somewhat to blame for lawns being created around the world, where they became a status symbol, and a sign of wealth and well-to-do.
What I don’t get is what’s the point of a garden with only 2cm-long grass in it?
The point from from old England’s perspective is that keeping the grass at 2 cm requires a whole bunch of resources and people, so only the rich could afford it. Even today, any neighborhood with weeds growing instead of a 2cm lawn is instantly classified as lower class. There often is no practical use or sometimes use for games or walking is when forbidden because it’s a status symbol only.
It’s like asking what’s the point of owning a Bugatti Chiron that can go 400 kph when you’re stuck in the same traffic jam anyway.
It goes back to the origin stated here. It was desirable because they could afford to effectively waste a lot of acreage on a crop that had no benefit. Simply for show.
That is the point. You’re basically trying to say “Look how rich I am, I can afford to have all this land dedicated to looking pretty and not being useful for anything else”
it’s easier to walk in than a garden with only 100cm-long grass in it
also looks nicer than a barren garden with no grass
The point is to make home ownership too expensive for black people by wasting land
Dogs tend to like them. Other than that…
Dogs would be just as happy with any other kind of nature, let’s be real.
Maybe overall, but my little Chihuahua/dachshund is too short to deal with taller plants. When we go for a walk by areas with natural growth or even unmowed lawns, he either has to leap through it or walk in the road. I’m sure there are some other options he would be fine with, I don’t think grass is necessary, but he is definitely not just as happy with any other kind of nature.
That sounds more like your pup isn’t used to it more than they can’t deal with it.
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Totally a USA thing. Dandelions and Clover are seen as undesirable to our eugenicized monoculture lawns.
The terrible part is the clover and dandelions and these other early season
flowers“weeds” are a very important part of a bees diet.I love your line of thinking. Lawns don’t feed the ecosystem, flowers do! But here in the US dandelions and clover are not a critical part of their diet. Native plants are the critical part of their diet - e.g. Native maple trees that bloom first!
Dandelions are native to Europe
Clover is native to Eurasia
They are far from the worst weeds, i wouldn’t go eradicating them like you should invasive plants (I leave both in my lawn anyways). But if we are looking to support our bees and ecosystem, then we should be re wilding our yard and growing native plants
In New England there’s a lot of neat spring ephemerals too (select from additional attributes)
Thank you. My understanding was since these were among the first flowers to come up in the spring, they are one of the few plentiful sources of food.
Definitely a thing in the US. People spend lots of money to have chemicals poured onto their lawns every year, summer and winter, to keep the weeds away. All of those chemicals have to go somewhere. Probably the groundwater and streams and other bodies of water. Not good.
I know people who mowed down carefully their lawn and spray them with presticide but they never had a issue with having dandelions, daisies and other common grass flowers, they are usually considered part of the lawn.
It’s a weird culture a lot of emphasis on freedom and protecting your home but then you just “ok then” when the local busy body comes around. It’s your land get them told
…HOAs hire management companies; management companies issue citations, collect fines, file liens, and foreclose your property…
*land of the free
*free to exploit capital
They can’t initiate foreclosure anymore, since around 2005 or thereabouts… But they can still file a lien, and collect on it if foreclosure happens.
…depends upon the jurisdition: in my state, HOAs can foreclose for unpaid assessments but not for fines…
I was told it was federal, but I don’t keep up with that stuff anymore, I’ve been HOA free for the last 9 years…
I too had never heard of the insane hatred on the poor dandelions before stumbling upon it online.
They should just eat more salad if it’s such a problem.
Clearly someone who’s never accidentally tasted dandelion milk.
I stole this meme from somewhere else so I really don’t know anything about the backstory, so it could have been a grumpy neighbor for all I know.
People can eat dandelions. So, free food? Where?
You can eat dandelion greens, but be careful where you pick them. Some people use pesticides for spiders and ticks around their homes, or weed-killers. You can also boil the greens and flowers to make tea.
So maybe I get a yummy meal, maybe I just fucking die?
I’ll roll those dice.
I’m not in Australia. The only spiders I know of that might nest under a dandelion are small American jumping spiders.
They’re effectively harmless, and honestly I wouldn’t eat them, as they are our cute 8 legged kittens that eat the other bugs out there.
Look first, if no bugs or spiders, then free dandelion food yo! 👍
Eating the spiders is not an issue. Eating pesticides that people use against spiders is.
In my area, when people don’t cut their lawns, they damn sure ain’t paying for pesticides.
I don’t use pesticides, but when my dogs start coming inside with ticks, I spray flea and tick killer in their fenced area. I imagine others probably do the same.
Yeah, people that can afford fences can usually also afford to tend to their lawn. Not everyone can afford such luxuries, many folks can just barely afford dog food, to feed their security guard animal.
Also, you let your dogs inside? We had a large doghouse and like a 200 foot cable runner.
Edit: Only our cats were allowed inside.
I might even get a little protein too?
The spiders are optional. Honestly, you’re more likely to encounter their egg sack under a dandelion than the actual mother spider, unless you pluck them early in the morning dew when momma spider might be at home…
Almost all of our spiders are completely harmless. Even the black widow and brown recluse are not as dangerous as people think.
We spray for bugs because people don’t want house spiders in their house.
Come discuss at !foraging@lemm.ee I’ve eaten dandelion before and I’m still hear to tell the story. I’ve made side dish of the stem. And it taste good. It’s a vegetable without a strong taste.
The leaves are grow and sell as salad even if it is not as common as lettuce. It has much more flavour than to stem.Dandelion leaves can be bitter but some people actually cannot taste bitter. One way to reduce the bitter taste is to pick the youngest and fastest growing leaves out of direct sunlight, as sun exposure increases bitterness.
Sure but it will still have bitterness and that’s what there is to like about this type of salad
The whole dandelion is edible. Flower too. I don’t know about the parachutes though.
People that are too lazy or can’t afford to cut their lawn typically also can’t or don’t care to afford pesticides.
Edit: I’ll eat the spiders too.
Not (frequently) mowing your lawn is one of the best things you can do for your local bee population. Dandelions and other meadow flowers are great sources of nutrition for them. Obviously, don’t use pesticides either.
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Dandelion greens are really good for you. Plus as others have noted monoculture lawns are pretty bad for the environment. Better than impermeable surfaces but still not great.
You can make Dandelion wine, coffee, dandelion salve, dandelion syrup, dye your clothes and eat them, to mention a few uses. - maybe he should sell them.
I’ll pass on eating my clothes
Don’t knock it 'til you’ve tried it.
I’ve made dandelion wine and dandelion root tea, both good. A wonderful little treat of a plant.
Yeah but that sounds an awful lot like work.
Oh no! Your neighbour will really be upset now…
What they meant us your lawn has less than the regulation number of dandelions. Quick, go gather seeds and start replanting!
Worked in animal crossing
Do the dandelion dance! Blast techno! Wear a speedo! Celebrate nature’s bounty, yo!!
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It doesn’t say what to do with them… If I see something like that with no context, I’m breeding ginormous people-eating dandelions…
Now that’s an interesting plot twist
That’s better than someone dousing the lawn in roundup.
Personally, I prefer the slovenly lions.
Dan the lion?
