Grow more dandelions

I like dandelions (Taraxacum officinale).  They are a perennial edible plant that are easy to grow.  I allow them to flower and set seed in my yard and encourage them as best I can.

Dandelions have many uses.  People eat the nutritious leaves and roots, they are high in vitamins minerals and inulin, nice coffee substitute can be made from the roots, wine can apparently be made from the flowers, animals relish all parts, bees (both native bees and honey bees) and other pollinators just adore them, they have medical uses, and they can be useful in composts.  Dandelions flower for much of the year where I live now, which is great for bees and other pollinators.

If you look closely you may notice that every photo on this page of dandelion flowers has a honey bee somewhere in the picture.  Bees really seem to love dandelions.

Dandelions have many uses, they grow reasonably fast, they are reasonably productive, they have no real problems with pests or diseases, and they can just grow in my lawn so do not use space that is needed for other vegetables.

I don’t see what is not to like and I like to encourage people to grow dandelions in the lawn.

Dandelion - you should grow more of them!

I have never understood why anyone would want to get rid of dandelions from the lawn or why dandelion poison exists.  The only problem I can think of is that they don’t survive if it is hot or dry.  That is no real reason to poison them though.

I have read permaculture sites and gardening books who claim that 'dandelions are a gift from nature that freely grow everywhere and thrive in damp as well as dry places'.  Even though I wish this were true, this is not the case.

Dandelion (with a honey bee) in the lawn

I do wonder if they are mistaking another plant for dandelions, perhaps flatweed (also called false dandelion, or cat’s ear, Hypochaeris radicata).   In Australia there is only a small sliver of the country where dandelion will thrive, the rest is too hot and/or too dry for dandelion to survive.  You don’t see dandelions growing far out west.  I am also told that they don’t survive in the tropics, but I haven't spent much time int the tropics so am not certain of that claim.

When we lived in Central West NSW I used to grow dandelions in the vegetable garden as they would not survive anywhere else on our property.   They needed a lot of water, and some shade, but it was worth it to have these delightful little plants growing.  I hated the fact that my kids were growing up without blowing the seeds off the seed heads, plus the highly nutritious leaves were great feed for animals, so I grew them.

There were some dandelions growing in town under the big bridge next to the river where it was shaded, cool, and damp.  Other than that small patch by the river and my vegetable garden I never saw any others in that area.  I used to sprinkle their seed in cooler and damper areas of our property, as well as let the kids blow the seed heads to disperse seeds to the four winds.  Occasionally seedlings would pop up and grow through the cooler months, but as soon as spring heat hit they would die completely.  It was just too hot and dry there for them.  Flatweed, on the other hand, grew easily out there and was often found on roadsides as well as in paddocks.

Flatweed is not dandelion, they are very different plants.  Even as a young child I never understood how people could confuse dandelion with flatweed.  They are similar size and a similar colour, but they look, feel, smell, and taste very different.  A cat and a small dog can be a similar size and colour, yet most people have little trouble telling them apart.

Dandelion is different to flatweed
I like dandelion and encourage it to grow in my lawn, but I dislike flatweed.  I don’t dislike flatweed enough to remove them, I just don’t actively encourage them to grow.  People often confuse these two plants.

They grow in different places
Contrary to what many gardening books say, dandelion do not survive ‘just about anywhere’ and do not ‘thrive in damp soil as well as dry soil’.  Dandelion needs ample water to survive, flatweed survives in dry paddocks and lawns with no issues.  They can and often do grow side by side, and flatweed can happily survive damp places, but dandelion does not survive anywhere very dry.  Even though dandelion have a deep tap root, once it gets too dry they simply burn off and never return.  Dandelion don’t cope with semi-arid conditions at all, whereas flatweed is often found scattered throughout semi-arid areas.  If you don't believe me look around.  Even in your yard you will notice an absence of dandelions in any areas that are perpetually dry.

The leaves are different
Dandelion gets the ‘lion’ part of its name from its leaves.  They have jagged edges which apparently looked like lion teeth to someone back in merry old England.  The leaves of flatweed have rounded lobe shaped edges.  The leaves on flatweed are hairy (like the ear of a cat, hence the other common name of “cat’s ear”), leaves of dandelion are smooth and hairless.  Leaves of dandelion are always soft and easy to break, the leaves of flatweed get fibrous as they age and become tougher.  This has implications if you plan to eat them, it also makes it simple to tell them apart based on the leaves.

Dandelion leaves are smooth with jagged edges

Flatweed leaves are hairy with rounded edges

The flower stems are different
Dandelions flowers have a single stem that is hollow, flatweed have a forked stem that is solid.  Dandelion tend to have thicker flower stems that are easy to snap, flatweed flower stems are more difficult to snap and tend to be thinner.  It is pretty simple to tell them apart purely based on the flower stems.

They smell and taste different
If you damage a leaf you notice a smell from both plants. I won’t try to describe how they smell, but they smell different.  Dandelion leaves tend to get bitter when the plant is flowering, flatweed is less bitter or even not bitter at all.

They have slightly different uses
People and animals can eat both plants.  Dandelion are palatable by most animals that eat leaves or grass, flatweed varies in its palatability.  Flatweed is apparently toxic to horses when eaten in large quantities, dandelion has no known toxicity issues.  A coffee substitute can apparently be made from the roots of both plants.  I like dandelion coffee, I haven’t tried flatweed coffee but I know someone who tried to make dandelion root coffee and used flatweed as they didn’t know the difference between the plants.  The result apparently tasted pretty terrible.

As you can see, dandelion and flatweed are completely different plants.  I just don’t understand where the confusion comes from.

Dandelion, the bees love them

Hopefully more people will encourage dandelion to grow in their lawn so they can benefit from them.  They are such a useful plant, plus they look nice.  An added bonus is they stay short if mowed, and get taller if the grass around them is taller, so you don't need to worry about killing them off by mowing too much.

You can buy dandelion seeds and sometimes plants through various nurseries, but I wouldn’t waste the money.  If you live somewhere that they can grow you will hopefully be able to find the seeds pretty easily.  If not, but you would like to grow them in your vegetable garden like I used to, let me know and I am sure I can get you some seeds.