Dandelions have changed a lot since I was a child. I remember them with a single tall stalk with a single blossom that turned white with the little parachutes that we all enjoyed blowing into the wind. Sometimes they had a few more stalks. Nowadays, dandelions that live in lawns with mowed grass have no stalks at all and their blossoms are sometimes below the average grass height. I did see some a couple of years ago, hanging over a nearby irrigation ditch, that had long stems, perhaps eighteen inches.
A dandelion with 64 blossoms
A closer look at the dandelion with 64 blossoms.
Today I found what appeared to be a single dandelion and I counted 64 blossoms. I picked a few of these blossoms and put them in a plastic bag and put that bag in with our collection of garden seed packages.
Dandelions in the place where Clancy our horse friend broke his leg and was put down an hour later.
Turning around and pointing the camera directly across the street, we view a field with a patch of dandelions exactly where Clancy died. There are far more blossoms than ever before because all the ponies, horses, cows, sheep, and chickens were removed when the Park Board purchased this farmland. Next year a park? All of the blossoms appear to be singular, like the olden days.
Usually, I go to some effort to eliminate all of the dandelions from my property, but this one is special, so in our next growing season I’ll plant a few in a pot inside my sunshine-filled southern window and see what happens.
But, why wait, maybe I can start a new species off with a little help?
Probaway - Life Hacks 