Arboretum Launches Meet the Author Series on Saturday, Oct. 20

ESPERANCE, NY (10/16/2007)(readMedia)-- In a continuing attempt to share the rich resources of subject-matter experts associated with its educational initiatives, the Landis Arboretum will launch its Meet the Author/Travelogue Series on Saturday, October 20.

Author, Amsterdam, NY, resident, and Landis member Anita Sanchez Sanchez has written a delightful book: The Teeth of the Lion—The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion (McDonald and Woodward Publishing Company, 136 pp.). Ms. Sanchez will share insights and “walk her talk,” taking the rich content of her presentation to the open-air of the Arboretum (2 – 3:30 PM) for a relaxed “show n’ tell” about some common plants and their lore, including the dandelion, and their historical uses in medicine and as food. Participants will meet in the Library at Landis at 2 p.m. Suggested donation, $5.

Dandelions are the most unpopular plant in the neighborhood--but it wasn't always that way, says Ms. Sanchez. Only in the twentieth century did humans decide that the dandelion was a weed. Before the invention of lawns, the golden blossoms and lion-toothed leaves were more likely to be praised as a bounty of food, medicine and magic. Gardeners used to weed out the grass to make room for the dandelions!

Some of her “dandy” facts that may surprise you:

• Dandelion greens are one of the most nutritious plants in the garden, full of vitamins and minerals. The sweetest greens are gathered before the plant flowers. But don’t collect them near roadways, or from lawns treated with pesticides.

• Dandelions probably arrived in North America on the Mayflower--not as stowaways, but brought on purpose for their medicinal benefits.

• In Japan, whole horticultural societies formed to enjoy the beauty of dandelions and to develop exciting new varieties—even a black-flowered dandelion--for gardeners.

For millennia, dandelion tonics have been used to help the body’s filter, the liver, remove toxins from the bloodstream. In olden times, dandelions were prescribed for a host of ailments, and their nutritional properties made them good medicine.

Ms. Sanchez lives with her husband, science educator George Steele, and sons Alex 18 and Timothy 9 in Amsterdam, NY.

Learn and enjoy more…meet Anita Sanchez…and delight in this easy-to-read offering.

(To order contact www.mwpubco.com or call toll-free 1-800-233-8787. $14.95.) A limited number of copies is available in the Arboretum’s Acorn Shop, a perfect holiday gift selecton (518-875-6935).