Dandelions On My Grave

- jim Young 20120515

“give me spots on the apples but leave me the birds and the bees, please…
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
- from Big Yellow Taxi – by Joni Mitchell

I want Dandelions planted on my grave.

Not that I want that to happen soon.

But when the time comes, I want Dandelions planted on my grave.

I think the Dandelion has gotten a bad rap.

First of all – it’s a very pretty flower.

Just look at the 2 pictures below and tell me the Dandelion isn’t every bit as pretty as the Marigold.

I think dandelions are just as
pretty as this field of marigolds.

The dandelion has gotten a bad rap.

You can make salad from the Dandelion leaf.
Not that I would ever eat it. (Or any other kind of salad for that matter.)

You can make wine from the Dandelion plant.
That I WOULD drink if someone would put it together in a nice little Dandelion Wine kit like the ones I buy at Costco.

Make a wish upon a dandelion that has gone to seed.

And who among us has NOT as a young child spent time making wishes on the Dandelions that have gone to seed only to watch the fairy-like pods fly away on a gentle summer breeze in search of our dreams?

Can the Marigold give you that kind of sustenance and pleasure?

I think not!

Who decided that flowers have to grow in a nice little rectangular plot at the edge of the lawn in the first place?

I’ll bet it was the same foreign clothes designers that declare ridiculous outfits are “in”.

Those are the outfits that are only ever seen on the runways in Paris as no self-respecting woman would ever wear them in public.

What’s wrong with having flowers in the middle of your lawn?

Isn’t the yellow against a background of green a nice contrast?

Maybe it’s a conspiracy with Canadian Tire and Home Depot to promote the sales of lawn and garden grooming tools.

Dandelions are a wild
flower just like the trillium.

Whoever it was, let’s hope they don’t look into our forests in Ontario in the spring and decide that trilliums should not grow in abundance among the maple trees.

Do-gooders would turn out in droves to rip them up by their roots.

You would get a poor harvest of apples if
you picked all the flowers off the apple tree.

Flowers on trees? Why that’s ridiculous. Better trim those lilac branches and apple blossoms and nip them in the bud!


Misunderstood and often misaligned, dandelions planted on my grave would be a fitting tribute to me.

And as an added benefit it would also piss off the relatives of everyone else buried in the same graveyard.

Somehow I think that would be apropos.

But then I guess I’ll never know.

- 30 -