Remind Me, Why Do We Hate Dandelions?

It's hard to make out the tiny blue wildflowers amidst these dandy lions, but in this particular wildflower preseve, the non-native "weed" appears to have neither colonized nor displaced any of the native flora.

photo credit: Ketzel Levine, NPR

It's a banner year for dandelions around Portland, I don't ever remember them looking so fulsome and jaunty before. They're strewn like wildflowers along parking strips, lawns and empty lots (the few that are left here in Boomtown) and by and large, their arrangements are quite picturesque.

So what's the deal? Why do millions of Americans prefer using 2,4-D to kill them instead of making dandelion fritters and enjoying the show?

No doubt the answer dates back to the heyday of the British lawn, rhapsodized and defended by no less a plant lover than one of my favorite garden writers, Anna Pavord who wrote, "dandelions are bullies. They simply had to go". At least she had the good grace to feel guilty about buying a weedkiller, but buy it and publicize it she did.

Perhaps a later blog needs to throw open the debate on 2,4-D, still very much in ample supply on the garden shelf but so clearly deserving of more consumer dissuasion. But the focus here is on the dandelion itself.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this gorgeous flower was a chrysanthemum, since both that venerable flower and this dandelion are in the same family (Asteraceae). The dandy's grown-up name is Taraxacum officinale, but at least once in its long life it was referred to as "piss-a-beds" because of its diuretic properties.

photo credit: Ketzel Levine, NPR

 

It's been two decades since the New York Times reported on the "weirdo" Maine farmer who canned dandelion greens. Today, there are dandelion cookbooks, dandelion dinners (strictly upmarket), dandelion blogs and in honor of Passover, Jewish dandelion news:

Conveying the misery of the Israelites' slavery, bitter herbs vary from place to place and even from family to family. Ashkenazim favor freshly ground or sliced, fresh horseradish root, bottled horseradish, or romaine lettuce. Sephardim prefer bitter greens such as endive, escarole, chicory, sorrel, arugula, dandelion, or watercress.

Nearing holiness, let us not forget that dandelions make wishes come true. You just have to do is put your lips together and blow. But if you really can't bear them yet know better than to use herbicides (what, me, guilt you?) garden writer Anne Lovejoy suggests you love them to death.

6:51 PM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

Oregon to Ban Butterfly Bush?

HEAR YE, HEAR YE ...

A butterfly bush can be a gorgeous thing. I remember seeing my first dark purple one in full flower (it was the now-ubiquitous 'Dark Knight') covered in butterflies and not believing my eyes.

HOWEVER ... here in the Northwest, they are noxious weeds; if another one was never planted out here, the species would still dominate the landscape for decades to come. And by landscape I don't just mean gardens; I mean the ever-threatened wild.

THEREFORE ... it was with great pleasure I read today that the plant division of the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is proposing to restrict its sale in Oregon. Woweee!

BE AWARE ... that the Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN) has already managed to work around the ODA ban on awful, mean, nasty ivy. Oregon nurseries can still sell Hedera helix for "indoor or containerized uses" — as if anyone's watching what Oregonians do with their ivy.

TO WIT ... I ain't celebrating just yet...but thought you might want to know it's in the works...

5:45 PM ET | 01- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Most Forgettable Plants of the Year

Repeat after me: I will never use the following plants, and I will gently but decisively encourage friends and neighbors to follow my lead. Trust me, it's a resolution that takes pretty much NO effort, and is a small step towards creating a safer home and a better world.

OK, maybe not a better world. But it will certainly stop all of us from making it worse.

On second thought, perhaps this should be a group effort. I'll start the New Year's ball rolling, how 'bout you add on ...

FORGETTABLE PLANTS:

Castor Bean Plants (Ricinus communis) with looks that kill

English Ivy (Hedera helix), invasive, unimaginative, overused and — oh yeah! — sometimes toxic

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), perhaps the most Orwellian-named plant on the planet

Junipers, first and foremost, because life is too short.

Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), wanted dead or alive across North America ... and beyond ...

Your turn!

11:46 AM ET | 12-28-2007 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

Your Runaway Plants List

Lots of surprises in your comments about Gorgeous But Heartbreaking Plants.

A quick perusal of our community's Mea Culpa, Never Again plants includes vinca, blackberry, mint, sweet potato vine (Jesse, where do you live?), wisteria, straight and variegated bishops weed (pure purgatory), bittersweet vine (Celastrus orbiculatus, currently in running as the next kudzu), Chinese lanterns, liriope and junipers (quoting Chainsaw John on that last fiend, "Die monster die!").

Poor Sandy can no longer get a shovel through her lily of the valley. Even a billyclub can't helped Shari control her Lysimachia ciliata 'Purpurea'. And Nathan sat by horrified as English ivy turned his house into a chia pet (it shouldn't happen to a dog).

Invasive plants know no boundaries. Do not try this at home.

photo credit: Grace Kerr

For sheer olfactory hell, though, consider the case of Lauren, whose oregano escaped its planter and spread poolside. The hapless woman now writes, "it's like swimming in an Italian restaurant".

Of course the list might have been extremely useful had I asked people to tell us where they gardened, because while the really bad stuff (English ivy, bittersweet vine, bishops weed) are bad just about everywhere, not all these invaders need be shunned. So if you'd like to confess about the worst plant you've unleashed on the neighborhood (trust us, you'll feel better afterwards), be sure to tell us where you live.

Just don't mention your address.

10:00 AM ET | 09-17-2007 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Gorgeous, But Heartbreaking. Plants, I Mean.

Scouting around for ways to delight and engage you, I stumbled on a blog entry at Gardening Gone Wild about one woman's love affair with an unfamiliar but very handsome tree. End result: Disaster.

Turns out the tree is one a friend of mine is jonesing for: Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia'.

This ornamental selection of locust, 'Frisia', looks incredible and behaves well in the Pacific Northwest, but became a pest for an East Coast gardener.

photo credit: Richie Steffen/Great Plant Picks

 

So this got me wondering about the gorgeous plants I've fallen for that I'd NEVER plant again.

My opening bid: A euphorbia named 'Portuguese Velvet', with the nicest euphorbiaceous foliage I've still ever seen.

Four years after ripping it out, I am still pulling out at least 100 seedings/season, AND, I'm now seeing runaways in gardens down the street.

Mea culpa. Though I do still love it. And suspect when it isn't so damn happy, it's perfectly safe to grow.

So, you? Ever been done in/done wrong?

Seduced by beauty and lived to regret it?

photo credit: green.thumbs/kristen

 

2:39 PM ET | 09-11-2007 | permalink | comments (45) | e-mail post

The Most Dangerous Plant At A Nursery Nearest You

Here's hoping this is not the first you're hearing about the dangers of the beautiful, bold-leaved Ricinus communis, otherwise known as the castor bean plant. Its name might not ring a bell but perhaps you've seen its foliage.

Tough to find a plant that looks this good but, to be blunt, GET OVER IT!

photo credit: Valter Jacinto

 

The problem is those spiky, Sputnuk-like seedpods, or more exactly, the smooth pebbled seeds within. One of these mouth-watering, multi-colored beans is enough to kill a Jack Russell terrier, and I only single out the breed because that's what my friend's dog was. It took two years for the little guy's organs to finally fail, despite everything modern medicine had to pump him with.

The beautiful, glossy, and seemingly harmless beans inside a Ricinus seedpod

photo credit: Abigail Kelly

 

The list of plants that COULD hurt animals (and children, of course) is rather long. One of the better online sources is the ASPCA. But given the overall risks involved with most of them, the castor oil plant is where I draw the line.

Never mind that you can buy it everywhere as a summer annual. That does not make it safe. I'd like to see all the varities of Ricinus communis pulled from the market until such a time as a sterile hybrid comes down the pike.

If you must have this dangerous beauty - believe me, I understand the craving - there is one way to sidestop the danger: rip the plant out before it flowers.

1:45 AM ET | 07-26-2007 | permalink | comments (17) | e-mail post