They're incredible survivors, and I admire them for that. They can handle very dry weather to the extent of withstanding a year of drought conditions, and really wet weather, so much you can't drown them out. They don't mind sun, or shade. In drought conditions, they'll send the root straight down, and far. As another poster said, they adapt to the length of the cut grass. Beyond this, if you try to pull one, and leave even an inch of the tap root, by breaking it off, they'll re-grow from the root, and within a month you'll have 'another' dandelion in the same spot. If you try to kill them with 2-4-D, before they die, they'll give one last ditch attempt at producing seeds just to keep the species going. If you pull dead plants and leave them on the garden, or anywhere, the remainder of the root will produce one last flower, or if it gets moisture re-root.
