Battling dandelions only works if everyone does it!

Three weekends ago, I was looking forward to the snow disappearing from my yard. And that weekend I raked parts of my lawn.
Two weekends ago, I was hoping that I could put my boat in the water by the following weekend. My lawn and yard waste had been hauled to the dump. And I began looking forward to my grass turning green. I applied some spring lawn fertilizer.
As I walked up and down the lawn, it seemed really sparse in parts. Dandelion plants were sprouting and their green leaves were spreading flat over the area.
Suddenly the rain of the long weekend caused everything to jump. The flowers fell off the maple trees. The leaves began exploding out of their tight buds on my hedging. The day lilies and tulips jumped inches overnight in their bright spring green colours.
The grass came out of nowhere and jumped inches in a matter of a few days. Where there appeared to be no grass two weeks earlier, the lawn had come back in a full thick green carpet.
Today, I looked out at my lawn and it is dotted with bright sunshiny dandelion blooms.
Across the street, the lawn is a carpet of yellow, which are brilliant enough to brighten your day. Every yard down the street has a contagion of yellow.
They are an explosion of colour and arrive with the first cutting of grass. I am not sure if I really like them or detest them. We call them a weed. I have spent hours removing thousands of plants in my yard since the disappearance of “Weed and Feed” fertilizer.
A perfectly cared for and groomed lawn used to mean that no dandelion ever graced your luxurious green carpet. As hard as I work to rid the lawn of those noxious plants they seem to explode again. Maybe because just missing one blooming flower, twenty thousand seeds for potential new flowers are released. You just can’t seem to win against the dandelion
For young children, the chance to pick those pretty yellow flowers and bring them to their mothers is irresistible. And if they rub those soft petals over their cheeks, they are left with a swatch of butter on their cheeks.
Of course, the Internet offers several solutions to rid your lawn of those pesky yellow flowers. You can pour boiling water or vinegar over the plants. You can apply herbicides. You can pave over your yard and paint the pavement, or you can just sit back and enjoy them. Eradicating those flowers only works if everyone in your neighborhood is also removing those spring flowers.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher