IN THE DRY, CRACKED soil, among the curling leaves of autumn and the litter, dandelions bloomed, on a December morning in southern Minnesota.
Discovering them at the Rice County Fairgrounds was unexpected. Dandelions are the flower, or weed (depending on your perspective), of summer. Not near winter.
But here these hardy dandelions grew, flourishing on a brilliant sunshine-filled day of low 30-degree temps, seemingly unaffected by the cold. Only a short distance away, snow lingered on the pavement, in the dark shadows of buildings. Remnants of the season’s first snowfall remain throughout town.
Seasons seem to clash. Dandelions and snow. In the summer and winter of December.
© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
It seems the snow covering is not there yet in Minnesota. Its what we always looked for as kids when we lived there. I miss the quiet snow falling over the earth covering it fresh with white! It will come. it has to be a white Christmas ! Being in Texas with mild days in the 70s I remember winter coverings. thank u for the dandelion photo surviving even the cold for one last time.
My grandchildren really really want snow and, in fact, asked their parents to stop talking about how much they enjoyed the warm weather. The kids just want snow. The adults, not so much.
these mean so much, hope and possibility
That’s a lovely perspective on dandelions.
Isn’t it strange??? We have flowers blooming around NYC.
I know. So odd. The rivers and lakes are beginning to ice over here in Minnesota, though, with colder temps in recent days.
Feels like evidence that this is a weirdly warm fall…
Nothing really seems “normal” any more when it comes to seasons.
Isn’t that the truth?!
So wonderful to see the resilience and strength, along with the colorful beauty of these surprising little flowers (I choose to think of them as flowers today!). We need that in these times. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve always viewed dandelions as flowers, too.
I remember one year that I had roses frozen on the bush encased in ice and snow. It was beautiful! ❤
I can picture that and imagine the beauty.
I haven’t seen any in our lawn but a neighbor found a bloom in her yard. Blame a warm and nearly snowless November.
I noticed also that the rivers in Faribault remain extremely low.
An interesting sight…dandelions in December. We saw little snow lay on the sandy beach on Lake Superior…on a bright and beautiful sunny day on the last day of November.
It sounds like you had a lovely time in Duluth, minus the snow.
I almost photographed a dandelion. Love yours.
Just as I’ve loved those many iris pix you’ve texted.
That seems so wrong, doesn’t it? I am glad for warmer temps here for a bit longer hopefully.
We got snow overnight. But warmer weather returns on Thursday with perhaps 50 degrees.
This posting reminds me of the day when I first thought of dandelions as flowers rather than weeds. It was on May 16, 1982. My folks had taken us to an out-of-town wedding the day before (I’m trying to remember just whose wedding that might have been; I recall that you and your hubby were there too, but I digress…).
When we left home, the weed patch that we called our yard was mostly green. When we returned on the 16th, the entire yard was a field of yellow! Those dandelions in their prime were quite a beautiful sight to behold!
Even though it wasn’t quite so pretty within another day or two, it impressed me enough to never once consider taking efforts to eradicate the dandelions from of any of the yards that I’ve owned in the years since!
I love this story which is connected to our May 15, 1982, wedding day.