Once again we have just returned from Maine. It was so pretty up there. The sides of the roads and fields nearby were covered with wild flowers that are always blooming at this time. We saw a lot of a plants called Queen Anne's Lace growing by the sides of the road, in fields and even in some people's yards. When I lived up there it was one of the "weeds' that we all seemed to like a lot and would rarely pull up. Another name for it is "Wild Carrot" and that is a name I had never heard of when I was a kid growing up in Maine.....and as you all know and I've mentioned this before but that was just a "few" weeks ago.....Oopsie...sorry about that....I mean years ago.
It's interesting to know that the carrots that we eat today are descended from this plant. The green part on both is about the same...but the flowers of the Queen Anne's Lace are very pretty. Their flowering is a flat plate about 4-5" round of many tiny little cream-colored flowers on top of it's long stem and they have tiny little very dark red flowers right in the center. Each plant usually has quite a few stems with flowers in different stages of blooming so you'll get flowers throughout late spring, summer and possibly into fall.
The top of a Queen Ann's Lace flower is a very strong attractant for pollinating insects.
The name of the flower, Queen Ann's Lace, was named that because it is said that Queen Anne was a very good lace maker.....and its flowers look very much like lace. And.....so the legend goes that the dark red spot in the center of the cluster of those little flowers represent a drop of blood that came from when she pricked her finger while sewing.
If you think you'd like to plant some in your yard......choose a nice sunny spot and they may be able to survive nicely.....but first you have to find some....possibly growing on the side of a road near you if you live in the Northern part of Florida. If you do.....remember that it grows foliage and roots only in its first year.....then flowers in its second year. Also.... when it does flower it may be a good idea to remove the seeds before the plant spreads them out......a few of them is very nice.....but a whole yard of them.......probably not. Your neighbor may not appreciate that either.
Being in the carrot family......Queen Anne's Lace has a butterfly that will love having it around. It's the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly and they will use Queen Anne's Lace as food for it's babies....you know what Butterfly babies are right??....they're caterpillars. But don't be worried about this....it's a very tough plant and it will even survive a......Caterpillar Invasion.
