Weird dandelions

I'd like to start out this blog with something I observed on our front lawn. Dandelions are regarded by many as the bane of suburban existence but I've really had a neutral attitude to them for the most part. As a science educator when I see them pop up I immediately think of how great they would be for an activity on seed dispersal.

This year I've been watching them more closely as I am determined to try and get the yard in better shape. Here's the story...

Last weekend I mowed the lawn for the first time. I used a new-fangled electric mower and the blade isn't quite powerful enough to take care of many so-called weeds, dandelions in particular. Last week the golden yellow little fellows were evenly distributed over most of the lawn. By the way, I have stopped using chemical fertilizers and weed killers so the lawn is definitely an exercise in plant diversity. I finished mowing the lawn and the next morning I opened the front door and what did I see? Hundreds of slender tubes that seemed to pop up overnight. During the week they came up slowly, and as I look back on it, they almost seemed to be waiting.

Yesterday, we had a nice mild, sunny spring day and I noticed all of the dandelions had full fluffy heads of seeds and that they had shot up to quite astonishing heights. This morning I woke up and heard strong winds outside, it is a very, very windy day. When I was at the dry cleaners, my clean shirt on a hangar, enveloped in plastic, took off like a shot as wind whipped through the door the establishment.

Anyway, here is what I wonder. Was it just a coincidence that the dandelions grew to maximum height and had their seeds ready right before a very windy day? Can plants detect environmental stimuli indicating a windy day is coming up, and then make rapid growth to take maximum advantage of an opportunity to disperse seeds?

In any event, I think it might be very interesting to do a study of dandelion reproduction in the wild, and in controlled experiments.