Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Macro…almost spent

“Macro“, my favorite of all Sally’s challenges.  This dandelion is almost done spreading its seeds, thankfully not in my yard, as it’s in the park. A weed is, by definition, something you don’t want where it wants to grow (okay, not Webster’s definition, but certainly a working definition.)  In the mountains of Wyoming, a dandelion is just another wild flower.  In the yard of our neighbors in Cleveland, the thousands (yes, literally) of dandelions were a danger to my yard. Dandelion plants take too much of the grasses area to be allowed and they have a nasty way of spreading rather rapidly!

When we first moved into our house, I tried to dig out all the weeds, including dandelions, by hand.  But every morning, there were more, including in the area I’d dug out the day before.  I offered our younger daughter one cent per dandelion head she picked…in our neighbor’s yard…to keep them from spreading seeds in our yard. After $10, I quit.  I thought it would make sense to pay a lawn service to spray her yard, but of course I never did. We used a lawn service for a few years to get things under control. After that, I dug everything by hand.

This almost-spent dandelion does have an unearthly beauty, especially as it’s nowhere near my lawn.