Looking for Dandelion seed!

[Stephenb]

I'm interested in adding to my collection of Dandelions, Taraxacum spp., in particular T. kok-saghyz (Rubber Dandelion) which I've lost - it comes from the Tjan-Shan valley in Kazakhstan (has anyone collected in that area?)

I have the following already as well as various officinale cultivars:

Taraxacum albidum
Taraxacum faroense
Taraxacum laetum
Taraxacum limnanthes
Taraxacum pamiricum
Taraxacum pseudoroseum
Taraxacum rubrifolium (looks the same as faroense)
Taraxacum trilobatum
Taraxacum variegatum

[mark smyth]

Something I've been interested in but how do you cope with seedlings and blow in seed?

[Carlo]

I too am interested in Taraxacum. I'm fascinated by garden worthy plants that come from "weed" genera/species. I confess that I have only grown a few dandelions, and don't currently grow any (except in the lawn). But hope that this discussion grows--and that Stephen posts more photographs of species and cultivars.

[Stephenb]

Mark: You cope with them in the same way as wild Dandelions which are everywhere here (deadhead and weed). Not all the species are so aggressive anyway - I wish pamiricum would seed itself more, this one has been very slow to spread. I love Dandelions in my lawn and the young plants are easy to weed out of beds. There are much worse weeds in my opinion...

[Stephenb]

I too am interested in Taraxacum. I'm fascinated by garden worthy plants that come from "weed" genera/species. I confess that I have only grown a few dandelions, and don't currently grow any (except in the lawn). But hope that this discussion grows--and that Stephen posts more photographs of species and cultivars.

[Stephenb]

I too am interested in Taraxacum. I'm fascinated by garden worthy plants that come from "weed" genera/species. I confess that I have only grown a few dandelions, and don't currently grow any (except in the lawn). But hope that this discussion grows--and that Stephen posts more photographs of species and cultivars.

Me too, particularly if they are useful too/ have a story to be told (Taraxacums attract more attention than most other plants in my garden, partly the surprise factor or someone pointing out I haven't weeded recently  )

Anyway, here are a few more shots of Dandelions in my garden:


2. Taraxacum faroense (a ground hugging species with very dark leaves, a beautiful contrast to the standard yellow flowers)
3. Wild Taraxacum officinale with my son many years ago - Dandelions grow tall here in the land of the almost midnight sun
4. Taraxacum "Pissenlit Coeur Plein Ameliore" picked up as seed in a French supermarket many years ago - I would say it was spectacular in full flower, following the sun it should be called Sunflower...
5. The same plant in virgin colours in the spring after a spell of blanching
6. 2 recent improved vegetable cultivars - UK Thick-leaved (who in the UK is working on improving Dandelions) and Vert de Montmagny Ameliore
7. Taraxacum pamiricum
8. Taraxacum variegatum

Apologies if I've posted some of these before, but here they are all together. The much maligned Dandelion...

[Carlo]

Interesting to see the "vegetable" cultivars. We eat it regularly, but I haven't searched them out before....

[Rodger Whitlock]

Taraxacum rubrifolium (looks the same as faroense)

Hold on while I don my spelling-fussbudget drag...there....ready?

It's correctly spelled T. rubifolium, not T. rubrifolium.

You aren't the only dandelion fancier out there. I've been growing T. albidum for many years and am trying to branch out a little now. Alas, I've never seen even one self-sown white dandelion, more's the pity. I think our dry summer climate and excessively wet winters do not agree with this charming Japanese plant.

Postscript: A few words about Taraxacum albidum. In spite of my dissing it, I have grown it successfully for many years. It's under the overhang of a large deodar (Cedrus deodara) in amongst various spring-flowering bulbs. A fairly shaded location with little direct sun, but reasonably strong diffuse light from the south. Though the site is quite dry in summer, the deodar keeps it from being soaking wet in winter, and thus from rotting. (I have found many Japanese plants cannot handle soaking wetness in the winter in my poorly drained garden.) It flowers modestly and I can get seed from it if pay attention when the seedheads open.

The soil is fairly well drained, at least to the point there's never standing water in winter, unlike much of my garden. The site is close to the house and the soil has been modified by years of dumping spent potting soil on it: all that expensive granite grit comes in handy.

It might grow better if given reasonable summer watering, but it seems to do well enough planted in amongst the small spring-flowering bulbs.

I've often thought that a lawn sprinkled with Taraxacum species of various colors might make a charming scene.

[cohan]

good topic! i recently got some seed from wim, pseudo-roseum is thriving already, but alas, albidum didn't come up for some reason, must be something i did wrong... too bad, i was most excited about the white flowers...
i've been thinking i'd like to try the improved veg strains as well, we've eaten the 'wild' ones regularly this summer, and surrounded by agricultural land, they are absolutely everywhere..

i wonder if mark's question was really: how do you tell the sown plants at seedling stage from blown in seedlings of wild/weed species? something i have wondered about myself? my pseudo-roseum were started indoors, so i suppose small seedlings that start later could be weeds, but could be just late starters..the leaves are typical enough... species with different leaves would be easier to tell..
speaking of that, the photo of pamiricum doesn't show--i was looking forward to that one, as it has entire leaves, correct? apart from eating, i am most interested in species that don't look too much like the regular plants-so different leaves or flower colours...

i'm also really interested in a couple of arctic species i have seen one or two pics of--hyparcticum with a paler yellow flowers seems really pretty for example..

here's a view from across the road (typical of many around), showing why my gardens will never ever be free of dandelions....

[Stephenb]

Taraxacum rubrifolium (looks the same as faroense)

Hold on while I don my spelling-fussbudget drag...there....ready?

It's correctly spelled T. rubifolium, not T. rubrifolium.

You aren't the only dandelion fancier out there. I've been growing T. albidum for many years and am trying to branch out a little now. Alas, I've never seen even on self-sown white dandelion, more's the pity. I think our dry summer climate and excessively wet winters do not agree with this charming Japanese plant.

Rodger: Thanks for the correction. I also got this same plant as T. faroense from a different source. I see in the IPNI database that faroense doesn't exist (there's a faroenseforme though). T. rubifolium is however accompanied by a reference about the Faroes, so I'll now rename to rubifolium so that at least I don't spread the confusion further.

T. albidum I'm trying to overwinter for the first time so wish me luck!

[Stephenb]

...speaking of that, the photo of pamiricum doesn't show--i was looking forward to that one, as it has entire leaves, correct? apart from eating, i am most interested in species that don't look too much like the regular plants-so different leaves or flower colours...

i'm also really interested in a couple of arctic species i have seen one or two pics of--hyparcticum with a paler yellow flowers seems really pretty for example..

here's a view from across the road (typical of many around), showing why my gardens will never ever be free of dandelions....

Don't know what happened with that pamiricum picture - I see there were two views and I'm sure I saw it earlier. Anyway, I've reinstated it now at the end and added my variegated Dandelion (which I posted elsewhere recently).  I presume this is just a variegated form of T. officinale, but I note in IPNI that there is a species T. variegatum, but last I looked I couldn't find anything about it... I've also had seed of T. officinale album and T. arcticum from Svalbard which is also white (but neither germinated  ).

I've also just planted a few plants from a packet of "Pink and White Dandelions" so it will be interesting to see what they are.

Cohan: That's quite some Dandelion field you've got there. They're quite picturesque in seed too:

[cohan]

stephen, that's perhaps and extreme example (the field of dandelions) but not really uncommon around here-since they are nutritious in forage, and (i think) not tall enough to affect cereal crops (of course you wouldn't want them that dense in a seed crop, just for space and nutrient uptake) so they aren't the focus of any specific eradication programs in agriculture; therefor, such vistas are common in season--including huge swathes of yellow lighting up the countryside..so i'm a bit disinclined to use yellow flowering plants (of any kind) in my garden in early summer, since they would just be unnoticeable in the general yellowing of the region!

i have a small collection of arctic dandelion sp (oops!-photos!) i have found online--arcticum (white) hyparcticum (paler yellow flrs, red leaves) and phymatocarpum which seems (i have 2 photos) to have whitey yellow or pinkey yellow flowers, possibly with fewer ray flowers, more open centre, and leaves tending to reddish..all very nice--though who knows if i will ever find seed!
any sources in general for arctic seed??

let us know what comes of the pink and white!

[PeterT]

Anita and Andrew Thorp with a nursery in Theddingworth in the east midlands UK keep a  couple of taraxum - dont remember which and I lost mine  I doubt they have a web site though

[Maggi Young]

Anita and Andrew Thorp with a nursery in Theddingworth in the east midlands UK keep a  couple of taraxum - dont remember which and I lost mine   I doubt they have a web site though

 Here are contact details for the Thorpes (  from the HPS Rutland site:
http://www.rutnet.co.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=20408    link broken  )

A & A Thorp

Anita & Andrew Thorp Bungalow No 5, Main Street, Theddingworth, Leicestershire, LE17 6QZ       Telephone(01858) 880496

[PeterT]

  very efficient Maggie ,
they have a fabulous nursery,    as dangerous to me as the East Anglia Bulb Fair, with every weed, rare bulb and collectors item going!