I'm adopting the much maligned dandelion. A weed because it survives so tenaciously in all kinds of situations and environments--which I see as kind of steadfast courageousness because it doesn't submit to humans trying to dominate it in their search for perfectly manicured expanses of green.
And, despite its ill-treatment and the disdain it receives, it continues to delight children with its exuberant color and magical puff balls as well as providing adults with a super food (more vitamins than spinach in its leaves!) and a glass of wine to wash it all down. As if that's not enough, for centuries its roots have been used as natural diuretic as well as a treatment for skin and liver ailments and its blossoms for a calming tea. And now that tea is being studied as a possible cancer treatment!
And did you know that a dandelion puffball can lead you to your true love? At least that was my grandmother's story--as a young girl, if you blow on the seeds of a puffball, the direction of the seeds is the path you must follow to find your own true love. Take that OKCupid!
