Dandelions in winter?

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Yep, who knew there were dandelions in the winter! For a few years I had my little uromastyx, who loves them but sleeps (brumation) for a lot of the winter. So I didn’t know, or care, if there were any dandelions that would produce flowers in the cold winter months in Pennsylvania.

Now that I have this fun and crazy chuckwalla, who doesn’t sleep in the winter, I had to observe how dandelions handle winter, because he wants some any time/all the time. I was surprised that Christmas came and there were still some dandelions! Then January……….and on we went.

He sits in his upstairs part of his vivarium and looks out, with a very sad look, as if saying…….why didn’t you give me dandelions today?

So every day that it’s more than about 45 degrees, there could be dandelions, especially if the sun is shining. There won’t ever be more than 1 or 2, because it takes a lot of energy for a plant to produce a flower in such bad conditions. But I wait till the warmest part of the afternoon, and then I go looking. They are on very short stems this time of the year so you have to look close or you could miss one.

Mother nature doesn’t make mistakes, so I wonder what the rationale is for these plants to keep producing flowers in the cold? The purpose of a plant making a flower is to get the flower pollinated, to produce seeds, to carry its own species on. And yet, these plants don’t seem to care that there are no bees of any kind in a Pennsylvania winter: no one is coming to pollinate these flowers. That’s a mystery. Who has an answer?

My neighbors might think I’m the crazy lady, but that’s ok. This old lady comes out of her house, walks around in her yard, looking down at the ground. Sometimes she stops and picks something up. She walks around the same path every day that she’s out there, and then she goes back in. Neighbors don’t know about winter dandelions, or lizards that like them. Or how far reptile keepers will go to get their animals a food that’s like candy.

There is no other way to have these flowers in the winter. People say grow them inside but no, that doesn’t work. These growing here in the winter are surviving, not flourishing, and to flourish and be really healthy, they need full sun on most days. We can’t duplicate that inside even with the best plant lights. I grow other things inside with plant lights, but dandelions, no.

There are no dandelions today because we just got 4″ of snow this morning. But a couple weeks ago there was a storm that left 3″ of snow on the ground for several days. When it finally melted, within 2 days I was out there picking 3 dandelions. 

So after this melts in a couple days, I’ll be walking the dandelion route, looking down at the ground, and the neighbors will say: there she goes again. :) And Geyri and Chuckie will be happy that I find them some of their winter treats.

16 responses to “Dandelions in winter?”

    • I’m getting old but hey, still beats the alternative! The hairless kids and the 14 year old black one with hair are all good. I’ll get back to reading, and hope you’re doing good.

  2. Oh, these pictures are not so bad. I was expecting them. That figurine staring back is a bit odd though. I think that dandelions bloom whenever they can, seemingly regardless of pollinators. They inhabit a broad range, which includes Scandinavian climates that can get cold randomly at any time throughout the year. They bloom through winter here, but without irrigation, do not bloom much during the arid warmth of summer.

    • Oh her African woman. Geyri is from the Sahara but her African woman is from sub-Sahara. Still, the statue serves to remind me to think of just how different this little lizard is, and that she comes from a place that I really don’t understand.

      • What is crazier is that so many enjoy it! Brent can not understand why I do not relocate there! I enjoy vacationing there for a week or so, but that is about all, and because I do not get out much while there. His home is exquisite, but it is surrounded by all . . . that.

      • Yea I’ve seen his home and property on your blogs. But is surrounded by all that, and he goes out and interacts with all….that, every day.

      • Amusingly; He brags about how tall his queen palms are, while my redwoods are more than a hundred feet tall. He brags about his ‘water features’ (fountains), while I have a creek flowing through my garden. He brags that his parcel is five feet deeper than most city lots, while I live on acreage. He brags about how, from within his garden, one would not guess that he or she is in the middle of the second most populous city in America, while I need to drive to the nearest neighboring home. He craves what most of us take for granted, but believes that everyone wants to live in Los Angeles.

  3. I have no answer for this, but we live in similar weather. There are not only some lants that remained green, we have plants growing & are 1-2″ above the ground.

  4. Pingback: Yea, winter again | Sarasin's thoughts.......·

  5. Dandelions can self pollinate as a last resort if pollinating insects aren’t around, so technically it could produce seeds in the winter. May be it is just getting a head start, like some early nesting birds do.
    Our lawn turns yellow every summer with dandelions. But the rabbits that live under the deck take care of most of them 🙂

    • They don’t tho. The heads of any I miss develop white things that look like the seed heads but there are no seeds. Yea in the spring there are everywhere in the yard. I feed them a lot and also dry some for the winter. That’s not the same, but they like it arranged, rehydrated, on their greens. Our rabbits get some of them too. And I never pick all of them later in the summer: some to go to seed for more plants next year.

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