Dandelion contest winner Brian Ramirez triumphantly dons his prize: a redbankgreen hoodie sweatshirt. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Red Bank, meet your dandelion champions. Bryan Ramirez and Christian Bruno of Elm Place took the title for finest dandelion display, proud victors in redbankgreen‘s Earth Day dandelion display contest.
The winning entry. (Photo by Brian Ramirez. Click to enlarge.)
Ramirez submitted a photo of a lawn bedecked with so many white puffy seed heads one could mistakenly think a rare spring snowfall had occurred. Several varieties of the genus taraxacum appeared to be represented. It warmed our herbicide-hating hearts.
A perusal of lawns from Harrison Ave to Chapin Ave in recent days made clear the couple did not have the most spectacular display of dandelions in town. Rather, they captured the title through hustle, grit and sheer force of will. Namely, unlike every one of the other thousands of property owners in town, they actually entered the contest. And they did so with gusto, as Ramirez explained their growing techniques in an email which read:
“To allow the dandelions to thrive in their natural habitat, we ignored watering the front yard over the past year. When coupled with the daily flow of urine from dogs passing by, this cultivated a perfect ecosystem for the dandelions to get the nutrition they needed to reach their full potential.”
The entry was no ode to languor, however. Ramirez attributed the conditions to a set of circumstances familiar to frazzled parents: as busy parents of young children, lawn care fell by the wayside since a laborious replanting several years ago.
A silver – or green – lining, perhaps: The couple is making plans to replace as much of the lawn as possible with wildflowers and native plants, an idea advocates of environmentally sound gardening practices say is even better than letting dandelions do their thing.
Good luck next year.
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