Queen Annne’slace whose common names includes wild carrot, bird’s nest, bishop’s lace, and Queen Anne’s lace (North America). The Wild Carrot is a white, flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. The Wild Carrot is native to temperate regions of Europe and southwest Asia and naturalized to North America and Australia. Queen Annne’slace “Daucus Carota” flower is so common that you might assume to be an American native, but it’s really from Afghanistan and was introduced to Europe in colonial times.
Meadows roadsides and overgrown fields are full of its lacy, flat umbels made up of many tiny white flowers and a solitary purple one right in the center. They bloom a long time, from June to August in most areas. So this means you have them throughout the summer to lighten and soften bouquets of brighter, less delicate flowers. You may like the way the flowers look when they are fading and starting to close up like little cups.
They are the same species as our common garden carrot. In fact, if you pull one up you will see a carrot-shaped, carrot smelling taproot, though it’s stringy and white instead of fat and orange. The plants are hardy. Moreover, Queen Anne’slace will grow in cultivated gardens, although if the soil is very fertile and stems may become leggy. It will tolerate dry, infertile soil quite well but needs at least a half-day of full sun. In spite of the fact that it chooses to live in meadows, it cannot compete with vigorous rooted perennials and grasses.
It is best simply to naturalize a clump of it somewhere and keep the soil weeded and cultivated. So that the plant will self sow abundantly. Like many members of Umbelliferae, Queens Anne’slace does this well anywhere, but in the cultivated ground it will do so best. On the other hand, if you don’t want it to self-sow, deadhead the plants or just pick them. They were always a place for another bouquet of Queen Anne’slace. Like other tap-rooted plants, they can’t be divided, but seeds can be collected when dry and sown outdoors in late spring.
Also, Read – The Allium – Most Graceful Ornamental Flower
