Hello Wishful Butterflies~
This week, Westridge Florist Toowoomba has chosen the humble Dandelion to be our Flower of the Week!
While most perceive it as weed, it is beautiful nonetheless. At Westridge Florist, we’re all about finding beauty and joy in the smallest of things. We think the Dandelion is a perfect representation of strength and pure joy. So without further ado, let’s get into why this little flower is our top pick.
Did You Know?
Aside from giving us stages of bright little flowers, whimsical puffs and wishes; the dandelion is the only flower that represents the 3 celestial bodies of the sun, moon and stars. The yellow flower resembles the sun, the puff ball resembles the moon and the dispersing seeds resemble the stars.
Of course, we all know that nowadays, these ‘weeds’ are considered a pest in gardens but up until the 1800s people would pull grass out of their lawns to make room for dandelions and other useful “weeds” like chickweed, malva, and chamomile.
That’s because every part of the dandelion is useful: root, leaves, flower. It can be used for food, medicine and dye for coloring. Dandelion roots are roasted and ground into granules to make Dandelion Coffee which is a herbal substitute for regular coffee. Surprisingly, this beverage is similar in taste and appearance to coffee.
Dandelion
Botanical Name| Taraxacum
Common Name| Dandelion (dent-de-lion |French for Lion’s Tooth | Refers to the coursely-toothed leaves.)
Meaning| Happiness | Youthful joy | Healing | Strength | Warmth
Description| A widely distributed weed of the daisy family, with a rosette of leaves and large bright yellow flowers followed by globular heads of seeds with downy tufts.
Folklore | The most common myth is that you wish will come true if you make it immediately before you blow the dandelion puffs. But did you know that there are so many more?
One legend states that the tallest dandelion stalk a child could find in early Spring would show how much they’d grow in the coming year. Another claims that they bring married couples good luck when woven into a bride’s bouquet.
Dandelions are also linked with time. Instead of granting wishes, if you blow a puff and seeds still cling to the head, it supposedly indicates how many years you have left to live. The dandelion flower opens an hour after sunrise and closes at dusk giving rise to the belief that it is a ‘Shepherd’s clock’. An even weirder time legend is that when you blow a Dandelion, the number of seeds left on the head is the time, giving birth to the name ‘Dandelion Clock‘.
Dandelions are such amazing and useful flowers. Most times even weeds can be beautiful and just as handy to have around as herbs and flowers.
Until our next adventure~
Westridge Florist Toowoomba
Author: Jessica Schoultz
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