Dandelions

Soapbox time.

Dandelions are a contentious topic. I have been lectured both for removing them from my intentional plantings and for leaving them in my lawn.

There are multiple species of dandelions and similar-looking flowers. Some of them are native, some are not, so be cautious of pulling yellow many-petaled flowers before you know what they are. (List is not inclusive.)

Common dandelion - invasive
Red-seeded dandelion - invasive
Autumn hawkbit  - invasive

Prairie false dandelion - native
False dandelion - native

For the purposes of this entry, I will be discussing common dandelions and red-seeded dandelions.

Yep, they are invasive species, introduced from Europe. Yep, they are edible.

Some people leave them because being an early spring bloomer makes them "important food for bees." This is actually false. While bees (native and otherwise) will happily visit them, especially in spring when flower pickings are slim, the pollen offered by dandelions is low in nutritional value.

Most research is done on honey bees due to their agricultural value, but these sources touch on other bees as well:

• Are Dandelions Really Important to Bees?
• Pollen Quality
• The Real Scoop on Dandelions and Honeybees

In short: dandelion pollen is low in protein and lacking in certain amino acids which are key to bee development. This doesn't mean it's hurting them, as long as they have a diversity of pollen sources. But it's not necessarily GOOD for them, either. It's better for them to have access to the pollen sources that they evolved to eat - generally plants that are native to your area.

Fighting dandelions takes resources, in the form of time and/or herbicides. Herbicides cost money, harm other plants, and are possibly harmful to insects. Hand culling is the most environmentally friendly way to control the spread of dandelions, but it is also labor-intensive and time-consuming. It's up to you whether that time and energy would be better spent elsewhere.

For some alternative early-blooming native plants to encourage, check out:
Common blue violet
Virginia waterleaf
Wild strawberry
Red columbine
Bloodroot

Friends!

The more natives I plant, the more cool new insects I see. I think this is a long-legged fly.

Bumble bee butt! Flower is an ornamental penstamon, but apparently still meets their standards.

Monarch caterpillar mowing down on common milkweed.

Rain Garden #1

I started this rain garden in October 2018 to handle the runoff from part of my garage roof.

It began life as an unassuming mud pit a few inches deep with a berm around the border. The pile of rocks under the downspout are to prevent erosion. The fence is to keep the dogs from trampling everything, or worse.

I found a native fern on late-season clearance and transplanted asters, prairie smoke, and a wild rose from elsewhere in my yard, plus sowed some swamp milkweed and hairy rose mallow seeds. It hit -30F that winter, and nearly everything (except for the prairie smoke) died. None of the seeds germinated.

The rain garden mostly got put on the back burner in 2019. It was taken over by various weeds and native volunteers. I did find some more ferns for it, but wasn't optimistic that they would make it. I also worked on a new fence.

 

The good news was that the rain garden was still doing its job of letting water runoff slowly drain away. Also, at least one monarch caterpillar took advantage of the common milkweed and smartweed that had popped up. (Monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed, but they prefer to go elsewhere when they reach the chrysalis stage.)

Finally this year I picked up some plants to fill the pit in. Black eyed susan, purple coneflower, swamp rose mallow, a sunflower, and marsh blazing star. Some wild roses and asters also found their way in there, and the ferns are flourishing. One rose mallow has already died, but the rest of the plants are establishing themselves.

Once I get this rain garden established, I would like to make one along the edge of my driveway as well - but that one will be much more of an undertaking.