The Dandylion Story

Spring is here! And along with Spring we get flowers! I love our tulips and daffodils, but they are nothing like our neighbors'! Several homes on our street are bursting with daffodils, tulips, crocuses and other flowers I can't identify. However, there is one flower where we have them beat! Nobody, and I mean nobody, on the street has the collection of dandylions that we do! :)

So, T had a great idea. He decided he would get the kids to pick our dandylions before they went to seed. He told me he was going to pay them a penny for each dandylion. He figured that was cheaper then buying a chemical, AND it would keep them busy for a while. At the last minute he decided on a nickle for each dandylion. You can imagine the great excitement!

I provided some old plastic containers and the picking began. T was quick to make up a rule that if you pushed somone out of the way to get a dandylion, then they got all your dandylions. That helped keep things running smoothly.
Z was our most prolific picker - he picked over 400 dandylions!!!!!!

H and G each had over 100.
J even joined in! (When you're broke, you're broke!) Above is a picture of them with all their picking, before they went in the trash.

But, alas, the dandylion story is not over. I guess there is something T and I didn't realize about dandylions... Something that had me laughing my head off when we went outside today...

I don't know. Maybe picking a dandylion is like dead-heading any other flower... it promotes growth of more blossoms! Or maybe there just were that many waiting to bloom. In any case, despite all efforts to the opposite, we're still the Dandylion kings!