The reason we think dandelions are weeds is because of a 1950s marketing campaign.
Dandelions, native to Europe and Asia, were brought to North America in the 1600s by European colonists who grew them deliberately.
Every part is edible. The leaves are a salad green, the flowers were made into wine, and the roots were roasted as a coffee substitute and used medicinally for liver and kidney conditions for thousands of years. They were a kitchen-garden staple well into the 1800s.
The shift happened after World War II, when 2,4-D (originally developed for chemical warfare research) was approved as a residential herbicide. Companies like Scotts built the modern lawn-care industry around the idea that a perfect green lawn meant zero broadleaf plants.
Dandelions, being bright yellow and resistant to mowing, became a visible enemy, and the campaign worked. By the 1970s, "dandelion-free" was synonymous with "well-kept."
They aren't native, but they aren't doing significant ecological harm either. The herbicides used to kill them, on the other hand, kill bees, contaminate groundwater, and have been linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans.
If you hate dandelions, it's most likely due to a marketing campaign that ran before you were born.
Beef, Butter, Bacon & Eggs is the most nutritious and ethical diet you can eat! Oh, and it also reverses
Type 2 Diabetes, Fatty Liver & Metabolic Syndrome...
Oh look, my property value went up again this year despite zero improvements since we bought the house 9 years ago. Property tax is legalized theft.
Nebraska the tax me state.
Doc: Your LDL is 220! I’m tempted to call an ambulance.
Me: LDL isn’t golf.
Doc: Maybe it’s time to try Statins?
Me: Let me ask you this? Is my LDL glycated?
Doc: Huh?
Me: Glycated LDL is a sign of heart disease and the pill for that is the meat pill aka quit eating sugar.
Doc: We don’t test for that.
Me: LDL is not a disease but a high sugar diet can make it become diseased.