When I was a kid, dandelion was one of my favorite flowers. I never thought of it as a weed, it was too pretty for that classification. I remember picking it in the field at recess and making dandelion chains which we wore proudly as bracelets, necklaces, and flower crowns. And the fluffy seed heads are equally nostalgic. Who didn’t, at some point, make a wish before scattering the seeds to the wind?

As an adult I still get excited about their appearance in the spring. The bright yellow blossoms are like little drops of sunshine cropping up in the most unlikely of places. Take a walk on a warm day and you are likely to see at least one growing through the cracks on the sidewalk. That is part of what I love about them, they are so resilient. Unfortunately, not everybody sees the beauty in so-called weed.

Once upon a time dandelions were revered for their beauty, as a source of both food and as medicine. Gardeners would exhibit the blooms at county fairs and even weeded out grass to make room for dandelions. Legend has it pilgrims brought them over on the Mayflower. On purpose. But somewhere in the 20^th century folks decided that this lovely little burst of sunshine was a weed—a sentiment that pervades our collective consciousness to this day.

Historically, the shift in mindset correlates to a time when lawns were seen as a symbol of wealth. At that point, most people were still growing their own food and only rich folk could afford to devote time, space, and energy to growing an unproductive “crop” like grass. A lush green expanse of lawn was a signal to the world at large that a person need not concern themselves with the growing of food because they could buy it from a grocer. How ironic then that for pollinators a monoculture of grass is equivalent to a food desert.

These oft-maligned and largely overlooked blooms are more beneficial than most people realize. I am firmly of the belief that we should stop trying to eradicate them give them space to thrive. Here are my top reasons to embrace the dandelion.

7 reasons to skip the spray and let dandelions stay

1. Contrary to popular belief, dandelions are not actually weeds. In fact, they are in the same family as sunflowers, and no one is trying to get rid of those! Plus, they are just so fun! If you haven’t made a dandelion crown in a while (or ever) I encourage you to give it a try, and then take a look at all the joy children derive from the sunny blooms and rethink the urge to get rid of them.
2. Dandelions are 100% edible. Every part of the plant from bloom to root can be used as a food source and they are super nutritious! The leaves in particular are rich in vitamins A, E, K, B1, B2, B6, and C. They are also rich in minerals like magnesium, iron, copper, calcium, and folate.
3. Dandelions are surprisingly good for your lawn. Their roots help to loosen hard-packed soil, aerate the earth, reduce erosion, and they pull nutrients from deep in the soil making them available to other plants. Basically, they act as a fertilizer for your grass.
4. Dandelion greens are often available from the grocery store, but are among the most expensive items on the shelves. Seriously, pound-for-pound dandelions outprice prime rib, swordfish, and lobster! Save yourself some $$$ and forage for these golden plants in the wild or your own yard (just be sure to forage responsibly!)
5. Herbalists love the dandelion and it is used widely for medicinal purposes. For millennia people have turned to dandelion to cure what ails them. Over the years dandelion has been prescribed for everything from warts to baldness, to the bubonic plague. Nowadays, this powerful nutritive is used to support digestive health and liver function, to treat constipation, as a gentle diuretic and more.
6. Herbicides used to commonly used on lawns to kill dandelions are deadly to other species as well. It is estimated that more than seven million wild birds die each year due to the use of lawn pesticides, not to mention the native bees, butterflies and other pollinators taken out by the poison we spray on our lawns.
7. With such a push for organic goods in the grocery store, we ought to also move toward a more organic lifestyle in other ways. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that homeowners use up to ten times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops! Those chemicals travel up the food chain and down the waterways at an alarming rate. Skip the spray and look for alternative methods of weed control!