Latest news with #dandelions
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Dandelions are aplenty this year, but what's sprouting them? Ashley Brauweiler finds out
This spring has brought a sea of yellow across parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, with dandelions in full force just about everywhere you look. But are there more than usual? Here and Now's Ashley Brauweiler reports.
Irish Times
31-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
No-mow May pays off with a buzzing garden
I did as advised and let my dandelions grow during May and was rewarded by a visit from this large bumblebee. Which species is it? Catherine McCarthy, Carrick-on-Suir Well done for letting your dandelions flourish. They are a rich source of pollen and nectar for bees . This is the common carder bee, which has a ginger orange thorax. It has a mixture of colours on the abdomen but there are always black hairs on the abdomen of this species that help to distinguish it from the less common large carder bee, which has no black hairs. The common carder makes nests from moss on the ground. These can contain up to 200 bees at peak population, which are very much smaller than honeybee colonies. Sea pink flowers. Photograph: Walter O'Dwyer I saw these wonderful pink flowers growing in large clumps along the coast near Clonakilty in April. What are they and are they native to this country? Walter O'Dwyer, Dublin This is the sea pink or thrift – Armeria maritima. It is a native species and can occur in great sheets of colour on cliff and salt marshes. It has long roots that enable it to seek out fresh water in dry conditions, and it can tolerate high concentrations of salt in the soil. It flowers in April and early May. READ MORE Viviparous lizard. Photograph: Willie Campbell Our cat recently brought this lizard to the door. There was also a smaller dead one at the door a couple of weeks ago. I'm wondering are they native? Willie Campbell, Co Galway Is there no end to the wanton marauding of the domestic feline? This poor lizard was probably sunning itself in an effort to raise its body temperature sufficiently to get going in the morning – it being a cold-blooded creature needing environmental heat. We have just the one native lizard – the viviparous lizard, so-called because it overcomes the risk of living in this cold country by giving birth to live young. What actually happens is that it lays eggs that immediately hatch. There is no placental attachment as in mammals. [ No-mow May pays off with a buzzing garden Opens in new window ] Cuckoo flower with orange tip butterfly. Photograph: A Donovan These pale mauve flowers are growing in the wetter parts of the grassy area in my garden. In early May I saw this butterfly on the flower. Can you tell me what is going on here? A Donovan, Letterkenny This flower, Cardamine pratensis or lady's smock, is also known as the cuckoo flower because the cuckoo has arrived by the time it is in flower. Its natural habitat is wet damp grassland, and it will appear in the absence of mowing. It is the food plant for the caterpillars of the orange-tip butterfly, whose Latin name, Anthocharis cardamines, reflects this fact. Even in the world of butterflies, beautiful colours are not equally distributed – only males have the lovely bright orange tips on their forewings. The hardworking, egg-laying females have just black tips on the white forewings but are distinguished from the cabbage-guzzling large and small whites by having green and white undersides to the back wings. [ Live near a town? Got food or smelly shoes? Foxes and badgers may pay you a visit Opens in new window ] Male stonechat. Photograph: John Glynn Here is a picture of a stonechat, which I saw in the Caher river valley near Fanore in Co Clare at the end of April. John Glynn, Co Clare This is a lovely picture of a male stonechat not yet in full breeding plumage. When it is, the males have a very black head, striking white neck patches and a bright orange breast. The females (wouldn't you just know) are a much duller version of this flamboyant colour scheme. The 'song', which both sexes produce, sounds exactly like two stones being banged together. It is a native species of scrubby uplands with furze. Please submit your nature query, observation, or photo, with a location, via or by email to weekend@
The Sun
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Four ways to keep kids entertained over half-term by using flowers
KEEPING kids entertained in half-term can be tricky without spending shedloads of cash. But with flowers blooming in the garden and wild spaces, there are plenty of ways to use them. Try these ideas to keep little hands occupied cheaply . . . VERY CLAY-VER: A pack of air-drying clay is £2 from Hobbycraft and can be used for loads of craft projects. Roll it out into a 1cm-thick square slab, then find different flowers and plants for the children to press firmly into the clay. Remove them once the imprint is clear. Ferns, sticks or grass all make good prints. Leave the clay to dry then get the youngsters to paint the imprinted outlines of the plants and flowers. PETAL POWER: You can also make prints from flower on fabric, or paper, with the kids. Bright petals are best as they will stand out — try dandelions or any other wild blooms you find in the garden such as forget-me-nots. Cut an old cotton T-shirt into rectangles, then get the children to arrange the flowers on the material, having put some cardboard underneath to protect the surface you are working on. Use a wooden hammer or rolling pin to bash the flowers until you start to see the dye from petals coming through the fabric. Remove the flowers from the fabric and leave to dry. You could frame the finished pieces and keep or use them as a lovely homemade gift. BUNCH OF BLOOMS: This is a super- easy activity kids will love. Draw the outline of a vase on a piece of cardboard then punch small holes in the top with a pen. Ask kids to pick flowers and stick in the holes to make a fun craft work. FREEZE FLOWER: Pick a few pretty flowers and pop into ice-cube moulds. Fill with water and freeze. Pop out on to a tray for a great activity on a warm day. Children will enjoy trying to free the petals from the ice and stay cool. All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability I didn't want to shell out loads for my wedding flowers so nabbed a £16 bargain from Dunelm - the quality's unreal Deal of the day GET snuggled up in bed or on the sofa with this marble print pink cuddle cushion. It's down from £21 to £6 at SAVE: £15 Cheap treat SWEETEN up a tea break with Tim Tam chocolate biscuits, £1.85 with a Clubcard at Tesco. Top swap FILL your home with the luxurious scent of white flowers with Diptyque's 600g tubereuse candle £168 at John Lewis. Or try Matalan's 850g red desire featuring sheer white florals, £9. SAVE: £159 Shop & save CLEAN away the day's grime using Simple refreshing facial wash. It's down from £5 to £2.50 at Boots. SAVE: £2.50 Hot right now TUCK in to two tapas and two cocktails for £20 at Las Iguanas. The deal is available all day every day, including weekends. PLAY NOW TO WIN £200 JOIN thousands of readers taking part in The Sun Raffle. Every month we're giving away £100 to 250 lucky readers - whether you're saving up or just in need of some extra cash, The Sun could have you covered. Every Sun Savers code entered equals one Raffle ticket.
CBC
26-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Defending the dandelion
Heritage Park interpreter Edith Priaro joins The Calgary Eyeopener to discuss the nutritional and esthetic benefits of dandelions.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
I'm feasting on the contents of hedgerows like a horse in plimsolls – and I've never felt so healthy
I had a daughter during one of the bone-cold early months of this year, which means that my full-time job is now to produce a yield. Between the hours of dawn and midnight, with a few lactic minutes in between, I am a feeding machine for a new person. And it is this, perhaps, that has led to my somewhat strange new eating habits. Pregnancy may traditionally be the time associated with cravings and aversions – the old cliches of sardines and jam, coal and creosote, bread and crackers. But here, in my postnatal feeding frenzy, I'm eating nettles by the handful. I am chomping on sticky weed. I have been biting the heads off dandelions (bitter – like really serious dark chocolate) and sucking the nectar from inside honeysuckle. This recent chlorophyll gala has, of course, coincided with England's greatest month: May. Some of us love the look of May, some of us enjoy the smells. But for me, this year, the greatest heady, verdant, leaf-rich pleasure of my life is to eat May by the bushel. The sheer amount of dilute dog pee I'm ingesting must be through the roof, I suppose, but I don't really care. The number of edible plants and flowers in Britain right now is dazzling. My latest love is a plant called hedge garlic. Or, if you're in the Midlands like me, Jack by the hedge (he sounds like the villain from a Grimms' fairytale, or the kind of singer-songwriter we all regrettably slept with in our twenties). Alliaria petiolata, to give it its Latin name, is a wild member of the brassica family and has a thin, whitish taproot scented like horseradish, triangular-to-heart-shaped leaves and small white flowers. Friends, once you see it, it's everywhere. You can eat it from towpaths and bike lanes and public parks if, like me, you're not embarrassed to be seen bending down beside a lamp-post and pulling up your lunch. If you don't live in the sort of lush, woodland world where wild garlic covers the ground like concrete then hedge garlic is a fantastic alternative; the taste is oniony, garlicky and even a little mustardy. Of course, like absolutely everything that grows wild, it has a toxic lookalike in the form of lily of the valley. In fact, once you start Googling, pretty much everything edible seems to have a potentially dangerous twin, from mushrooms to flowers to roots. Buttercups are extremely poisonous, as are daffodils. So please make sure you are referring either to an expert or a very well illustrated book before you start to chow down on your local undergrowth, and it's a good idea to wash anything you pick in salt water to get rid of insects, as well as dog wee. But to be extra safe you could stick to these few, extremely identifiable friends: nettles (both the leaves and the seeds), dandelions, clover, sticky weed (that plant that people squished against your school jumper when you were little and is sometimes known as cleavers) and daisies. A friend of mine serves up slices of bread and butter topped with daisies to her small children as a mind-bending treat. She is yet to be burned as a witch. Of course, I am in the incredibly privileged position of living somewhere in which food is, to a greater or lesser degree, widely available. I am able to boil rice and buy eggs and stock up on strawberries because I am a relatively wealthy woman living in a country that has not quite, as yet, cut itself off entirely from global food markets. I am not eating undergrowth out of necessity, and for this I am grateful every day. Am I worried about the sewage in our rivers and the microplastics in our soil and the pesticides leaking into our ponds? Of course I am. But it is also true that Britain right now is a lush and emerald salad bar that I cannot hold back from. Pesto, bhajis, soups, salads, pizzas, pakoras, fritters, sauces – I'm putting these plants in everything. I'm literally mowing down the greenery around my house, munching through the stalks and leaves like a small, pink horse in a pair of plimsolls and I don't care who sees. Because my iron levels are up, my skin is good and it's all gloriously free. Just imagine what I'll be like when the apples and blackberries arrive. Nell Frizzell is a journalist and author
