Marilyn's Photos - Apr 18 2026 - War on Dandelions
It seems that Dandelions have been hated for a long time. They were brought to North America by settlers in the 17th century for food and medicine. I don't see dandelions in the woods - they need a fair amount of sun. But I would expect meadows got overrun quite quickly. Now, we are a rural and urban landscape with few meadows, and we gave dandelions the perfect environment to flourish
Starting slowing in the 1870s and accelerating in the 1950s lawns became part of the urban and rural landscape. In the 20th century, horses were replaced by cars, giving more room to having a lawn. I would guess the gas-powered lawnmower helped lawns proliferate. And once we had lawns, we had room for dandelions to spread.
I can remember that most of the neighbourhood children had lawn duty - removing dandelions with the long-handled tool that would be able to get out the tap root. That was before all the herbicides.
What made dandelions so hated? This quote from an article by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects likely says it all: "Colonial control over nature, demonization of the 'wild', and the 'othering' of those different from ourselves are all ideologies wrapped up in the history of the suburban lawn.
Here's a lawn of dandelions on Grimsby Town property a few years ago.
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