Met an old gardener at a community plot in Denver who changed how I see dandelions

3 comments

3 Comments

That old gardener sounds like a real gem. I had a similar moment a few years back when an old lady at the community garden near my place showed me how she makes dandelion tea from the roots. She told me the bees love them early in the season before anything else blooms, and now I actually leave a patch of them alone in my yard just for the pollinators. It really changes how you look at them when you think of them as food for bees instead of just weeds. Kinda makes you wonder why we spend so much effort trying to kill them off.

blair_taylor321mo ago

Gotta push back on this a bit. Leaving dandelions for the bees is fine and all, but they spread like crazy and once they take over your whole lawn, it's not a cute patch anymore it's a war zone. I've seen neighbors yards get completely swallowed and then it's just a mess of yellow heads going to seed everywhere, plus the roots go deep so you're digging forever to get rid of them.

jason_lewis31mo ago

Actually dandelion tea is usually made from the leaves, not the roots. The roots are more for a coffee substitute once you roast them. But yeah the bees thing is spot on, they're basically their first meal in spring.