By Janet Sellers
Every spring, I write about the dandy dandelion and its health benefits to eat as well as the benefits to our local soils and our planet. After a long winter of letting our landscapes as nature intended for our ecology to “nest in place” the dandelion is one of the first greens and flowers we see in March. The plant is a real lifesaver. It supports our pollinators as one of the first available plants.
Edible root to flower, the dandelion has traditionally been sought after as a culinary and important landscape plant. Not for exotic beauty, although it has been an important culinary and medicinal plant since ancient times in Europe. Dandelions were brought to North America (known as Turtle Island to indigenous peoples) by the European immigrants in the 1600s. They wanted to make sure they had an available food and medicine source when they reached the New World.
Our hummingbird scouts arrive in March
March marks the arrival of the hummingbird scouts to Colorado. Their migration begins from their warm winter homes in Central and South America. Nesting grounds in Colorado range from our local area for the broadtail hummingbird to Canada and Alaska for the rufous hummingbird. We see four kinds of hummingbirds in Colorado along our Central Flyway here in our Front Range area: broadtail, rufous, calliope, and black-chinned. Each of these passes through our area onto their nesting areas in higher altitudes.
Daylight saving time will start March 12.
That means we’ll have to adjust our clocks and ourselves to the changes it brings. Originally devised to help ranchers, farmers, and crops, it is currently a support for golfers in golf courses. Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time purports that it is a money maker for golf courses and shopping malls but a disruptor for school children and most people, as they must go to school and work in the dark. While the clock does not affect our growing plants related to sunlight, the issue is more complex than that for the food industry and human life. According to some studies, there are higher incidences of a variety of health and heart issues due to circadian rhythm disruption.
Janet Sellers is a writer, artist, and speaker and enjoys sharing about the forests, mountains, and landscapes of Colorado. She offers Shin Rin Yoku meditative walks throughout the year. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.
Other High Altitude Nature and Gardening articles
- High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Rooting out crime: How our community’s flowers protect more than just plants (2/4/2026)
- High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Mini outdoor greenhouses, cinnamon to protect soil and seedlings (12/31/2025)
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- High Altitude Nature and Gardens – November tips, paper-bagging geraniums, compost poles (10/30/2025)
- High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Cornmeal in the garden; sweet potato leaf greens (10/1/2025)
- High Altitude Nature and Gardens (HANG) – Fall and the forest: creating soil beds and a blue spruce kitchen treat (9/3/2025)
- High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Wild Horse Fire Brigade: successful fire mitigation since the beginning of…plants (7/31/2025)
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- High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Enjoying nature in summer, high altitude landscaping, and weed control (6/7/2025)
- High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – May: new trees from tree branches, plant partners, bee kind (5/3/2025)
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