Flowers and Poetry. Dandelion.

DANDYTIME

His gift to me,

the long-forgotten tempo

of a boy's life

as we stop

then start our way

along the old railway

snapping stalks, altering fates

as we go.  Not a single clock

will be passed without being blown.

Roy Marshall (1966-)

THE SONG OF THE DANDELION FAIRY

Here's the Dandelions's Rhyme:

See my leaves with tooth-like edges;

Blow my clocks to tell the time;

see me flaunting by the hedges,

in the meadow, in the lane,

Gay and naughty in the garden;

Pull me up- I grow again,

Asking neither leave nor pardon.

Sillies, what are you about

with your spades and hoes of iron?

You can never drive me out-

Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

Cicely Mary Barker  (1895-1973)

My mother and I were talking today and she said to me "I know why you like 

Dandelions, you grew up in Vermont.  Every lawn where we live right now has Dandelions growing

in it."  

I said " yes you are right.  We always had a lawn with Dandelions and all other types of plants

growing in it.  We never had a perfect grass lawn."

I don't understand the need to spray chemicals and only have grass.  I like a lawn with character.

my lawn is probably 99% weed and 1% grass.  But I known that I'm not spraying chemicals and killing everything.

The top poem came from the book "THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS poems"

The bottom poem came from the book "The COMPLETE BOOK OF THE FLOWER FAIRIES."

By Cicely Mary Barker.  

I have been enjoying reading both of these books and finding the flowers that go with the poems.

The Dandelion fairy picture is from the fairy book noted above.  If you have young children

and want to teach them about flowers in a magical way this is a book you should have.

There was another dandelion poem that I really liked but it was too long.

Look for  "TO THE DANDELION"   By James Russell Lowell (1819-91)