If you’ve started to notice dandelions crop up in your garden this year, think twice before you kill them off with a harmful weed killer. These yellow flowers have an important role to play during the warmer seasons, especially when it comes to bees.
In fact, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, they bring huge value to insects, birds and animals. Their versatility has meant many now see them as a plant rather than a weed, so if you’ve got them in your garden, it doesn’t have to be a bad sign. There’s one thing every gardener can do with their dandelions to ensure they reach their full potential.
The experts have urged gardeners to welcome dandelions into their garden this summer, rather than just killing them off.
Their pretty flowers are rich in nectar and pollen, meaning bees and butterflies are huge fans, and the blooms last for ages too.
For this reason, they’re included on the RHS ‘Plants for Pollinators’ list.
The early flowers are especially valuable, as they provide food at a time when other sources are limited.
Birds such as greenfinches and goldfinches also feed on the seeds, so it’s important that you leave them alone, instead of attacking them with weed killer.
Most weed killers these don’t work immediately on contact, but instead seep through the leaves and flowers, absorbing into every part of the plant and eventually killing it.
For this reason, it doesn’t take much to harm wildlife that might use dandelions for food or pollen.
Bees are facing enough problems right now. They’re in serious decline in the UK and around the world, and we have already lost 13 species here in Britain, according to Friends of the Earth.
Without bees, ecosystems would collapse, as they pollinate food crops, wild trees and flowers, which then feed other insects, bigger animals, and eventually us humans.
But you can make a huge difference to bees and other creatures by stopping using pesticides in your garden and leaving dandelions to flourish.
Some pests provide food for important pollinators as well as birds and other animals, so leaving them to be controlled naturally is a good choice if you want to help bees thrive.
