Wildflowers - Queen Anne's Lace

Here's the deal. I know I am somewhat crazy. I was waiting for all these pictures to upload and I was thinking how some people think I am crazy for the time I am putting into this. For example, today I started at 4:00am. Got up, opened all the windows, put on the house fan, to bring in the outdoor fresh air to get rid of the stale air-conditioned air from yesterday. I love doing this each morning - it's like out with the old, in with the new. A total house cleansing. Even better than sage and cedar smudging.

Then I turn on the computer, and think about what my blog will be for today. I usually go through the drafts I have pending. Whenever I have an idea for a post I start a draft, so that I don't forget it somewhere?? Yea, I know!! What, me forget something??? Go figure!! We know that happens so many times a day I learned to stop noticing it years ago.

So I had a few things to do to get ready for a cookout we are having for some of my hubby's staff. We are getting some of the new teens together in order for them to meet and get to know each other before our annual company claims conference this summer. (that's a whole other story)

Had to put some stuff in the garage to clear off my outside stairs, and saw the jars I had put in there for seed storage - Now it is getting so humid some of the seeds have been starting to germinate, so I realize I need to get the jars ready for that, and I also remember that the covers are in the cellar (see I do remember things, sometimes!) so I go and get them and wash out the jars to do the seed storage later today. Yea, like I'll have time for that today, with a house full of guests!!

Remembering I need to get the watering done early, I set the first sprinkler setting of the morning. And I remember to set my alarm so that I can avoid a flooded garden. Get back in and go through my photos to see what I want to use for today's post. Thinking I'd do wildflowers today, I go through and copy photos for a new folder for the post. As I'm doing this I realize I have a lot of photos for Queen Anne's Lace and remember that one of my VIP gardeners had been asking about it, so I had taken a lot of indoor closeups of the blooms for a future post.

Photo upload working great today. Realize that I need a few more photos. Out to the garden. By now the sun is up enough that I can get some more shots. Since I have so many plants it is easy enough to find one with the right bloom stage needed. Only problem is that it rained last night and everything is soaked, but the wet leaves brushing up against my pj's are not a major deterrent to me getting the shots I need. That done, I realize that I need to seek more bloom stages on other plants. 10 shots later I come in to download those, and then upload to post. Realize that it would be great to have pictures of the emerging plant, so head back out to gardens - now remember I am watering , so need to navigate the showers in order to get to an area to find these sprouts.

Aside - we have an overhead sprinkler that I use for all the main gardens. It gets the best coverage and can be set for any pattern needed. We got it maybe twenty years ago from Gardeners Supply, one of, if not the best source for all things gardening.

I did get soaked navigating my way back to the house!

So, inside again, download, then upload new shots after editing them, and am ready to begin the post. Now it is 6:45!!! It is a time consuming process, but I love it. What's better than to have my own laboratory right outside my door!

If I need a picture of a specific flower, or seedling, or weed, or seed pod or an insect, it's right outside. I am compiling so many photos of all stages of all the plants I have - and for those of you who have been here you know that is a lot. I had thought of doing a plant count. Yes, I know, but I only thought about it. Where would I possibly begin!?? There are so many varieties, then so many plants of each variety, then there are the seedlings, and the ground cover, the ivies, the ferns, the shrubs, the weeds, the wildflowers, and then there is the woods! So maybe someone, someday will want to undertake a count, not me at this point.

Over the winter I will catalog it all . We got Excel, and I understand that would be good for a database. I've already had lots of offers for help with all things computer. And that is another way you can earn points as a preferred gardener - the help does not only have to be in the gardens!!

Call me old fashioned, but I love the older flower varieties. One of my all time favorites is Queen Anne's Lace. Such a delicate beauty in all its stages.

So now to Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, Parsley Family (Apiaceae). From Audubon field guide, it states the plant flowers are 3-5", and the plant height is 1-3'. Okay - I beg to differ with them - Many of my plants are upwards of 6-7'!! They are keeping ahead of the tomatoes this year! They refer to it as an attractive, hairy biennial, wild carrot that's considered a troublesome pest. Yes, it does spread all over if left unchecked. And the plant can get quite gangly, falling all over other plants when the growth is out of control.

Time to change the sprinkler!!

Back in, where was I?? Now those of you over 50 may probably appreciate me trying to get back to where I was when the alarm went off for the sprinkler. Have to go back and read what I have already written....

About the nature of this plant. Because I am enthralled with all of the bloom stages, I have learned how to enjoy it in my garden. I already know that it will grow incredibly large here, as many things do!! Must be the atmosphere!! Anyway, I work hard at keeping it deadheaded. This is the process where you cut off the flowers when they have finished blooming. You don't have to do it right away after the flower dies. There is time before the seed will set and then spread.This keeps it from spreading any seed. I will usually go around the garden deadheading once a week. This year, because I am saving seeds for all of you who want them and for the new seed bed here, I am not deadheading many of the plants. I am leaving a few to let the set their seeds. I will not be doing this with the Queen Anne's Lace. I have plenty of little sprouts all over so that I do not need any new plants beyond that. I have lots of 1st year plants that could be taken any time if anyone wants any.

So to get on with the pictures. This is a Queen Anne's Lace in my gardens. You can just make out the Foxglove behind it, to get an idea of its height. This one is about 5'.




This is what a new little sprout looks like. It tends to get confused with Tansy and Fringed Bleeding Heart sprouts.


This is an older sprout, it just has 4 leaves.




These are at the budding stage. I just love the delicate nature of this plant.



This is an immature budded plant with poor soil conditions. Notice how small it is, yet still getting ready to flower. These are very resilient plants which will grow anywhere, even in the poorest soil.



This is in the budding stage.





This flower is just beginning to open up.



This is full a bloom, a glorious 5"!




If you look closely you can see that this flower is made up of lacy, flat-topped clusters of tiny cream-white flowers.






Many of the flowers have one floret in the center of the umbrel that is red, dark reddish-brown, or black. The legend is that Queen Anne pricked her finger and bled 1 drop of blood over this flower. I imagine the brownish and black spots are the dried up blood stages!! Not all of the flowers have this marking. It varies within the same plant, whether there is one and what color it is.



Some even have 2 drops!!





This is what it starts to look like when the blossom has shed its little flowers.




This shows how the dying flower head starts to gently gather itself into a seemingly fond embrace.









This photo shot today at dawn.




And as the embrace gets tighter,




and tighter,




it becomes the vessel for its seeds, a beautiful lacy nest.



Hi folks, adding in a little more on 7-21:
While sorting through pictures for this morning's post, I came across these 2 which I will be adding to the post on Queens Anne's Lace. These show close up views of the flowers. Look at all the tiny individual flowers within the blossom, each one a perfect specimen of nature's perfection! These may be duplicates, but find them fascinating to think there are so many individual little flowers that make up the whole.






And look what I found in the garden yesterday! Bee Balm leaves can be cut now and used to make hot or iced tea. Have you ever made sun tea? You put some tea leaves, or tea bags into a large jar, cover it and put it in the sun for a few hours. It's delicious, and the only energy it uses is from the sun!



A raspberry colored Bee Balm, which I believe is called Pink Bee Balm. I thought it was lost forever. Never know what I'll find in my gardens!!

So you probably think that when the writing is done, the post work is done. Not yet!! Need to proof read and then go back to the editing page to edit for corrections, then go back to do a preview to make sure the corrections are all okay, then check for color consistency. This blog seems to like to switch my chosen color purple print to green, and at random. So I go to the preview and then have to note all word groupings that showed up printed in green and go back to editing, change them, go back to the preview and be sure they are right. One last check of preview, then ready to publish post. And now it is 8:48 - over 4 hours from when I started!! Not all posts take this long, just the ones with a lot of photos and descriptions needing to be added in.

Identifying wildflowers

So is it a wildflower or a weed?

And I have no idea how I got that green underline!!
Email question from Kim:

Anyway, my driveway or what will someday be the SHARED driveway, has daisies and a few other wildflowers growing along it, and there is some wetlands where ducks and geese swim and the catanine tails (not sure of the spelling) grow in abundance. There are pink and purple flowers along the way but never knew what they were so I never dug them up because I wasn't sure if they would overtake everything.

nb:(can't get font to change, so I changed the color for my comments)

The "catanine" referred to, is Common Cattail or Typha latifolia, common in wetlands.

So I am attaching a few more pics of the different flowers along the drive and maybe you can help me to identify them and tell me if it would be worth digging some of them up to bring the closer to my property.

nb: You would need to be sure what you are wanting to dig is not on an endangered species list. Those plants, like Jack-in -the -Pulpit and Lady Slippers are not supposed to be dug up unless they are on your own property. I have taken seeds of wildflowers that I am interested in and brought them to my gardens that way, except for Milkweed, which I transplanted for my Monarch Butterflies. Milkweed is not on an endangered species. The Monarch Butterfly lovers have been asking people for years to plant milkweed to give them places to lay their eggs. So many of the open fields have been developed and in the process wiped out so many native Monarch breeding grounds.

The sun is setting quickly, so I will go see if I can get the pictures before it's too late.
IF you could help me to identify them I would be truly grateful. :-) I looked in the books I have and online under wild flowers and the sub-categories and didn't find these.

Pictures are attached as to what is growing in the wild. The kids, grandkids and I walked after dinner tonight as much of the acreage (sp?) as we could as there is a lot of wetlands, and that hollyhock is a loner! No more to be seen anywhere up here. Isn't that strange?

There is a picture attached of a spikey purple flower similar to a liatris then there is another with my 5 yr old standing next to it. Look at the height of the thing.

This is Lythrum salicaria, also called Purple loosestrife. This plant is on the MA Prohibited Plant List, which I discovered when looking for a list of MA native plants. The full list can be found at http://www.mass.gov/agr/farmproducts/proposed_prohibited_plant_list.

This is the plant that has been invading all our wetlands, and choking out the native plants in ponds and lakes. If you have any it needs to be completely destroyed - it will take over your gardens, and choke out existing plantings. I am having a problem with Bittersweet that came in from my neighbor's yard. When I got sick, and not in my garden for several years, it just came in and took over several areas - it choked out all my heather and several roses, and is in my Quince gardens, which I will have to prune to the ground to eradicate it! Luckily the Quince will grow back. My other plants weren't so lucky.

This plant is the wonderful Black Raspberry, now being picked by Mia in our gardens! When fully ripe it produces a small black berry, which is the sweetest tasting berry!! And oh, how tasty right off the bush! I have cultivated them and also Blackberries, which have a much larger berry, and a very similar plant. I don't even try to tell them apart. I can do that when the berries start to grow. Some people refer to these two as brambles - they are very thorny and grow wild all over this area.

This is Queen-Anne's-Lace, or Daucus carota, var. carota. This will sometimes have one or two red or black dots right in the middle. It is said that it is the blood drop from Queen Anne's finger. There is an annual form called False Queen Anne's Lace, which has a similar flower.
This is a biennial, which I love, and have all over the gardens. I make sure to deadhead most of it so that it doesn't end up everywhere.


This is Common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium. I really limit this in the garden - I have a few plants down near the street to be able to show it to people for identification purposes only. It spreads by seed and underground runners, which can be a pain to deal with. I have also had a pink variety which I have had in the garden, but I find it too much trouble to keep in check.


This is Butter-and-Eggs, Linaria vulgaris, a sweet wildflower that kids adore. It's like a tiny Snapdragon.


This photo shows Loosestrife and what looks to be a Fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus. I have this in many areas (the Fleabane) - it is a sweet daisy like flower. I just make sure I deadhead it as it is quite invasive, but looks so nice with the Lupines and Black Eyed Susans.


This is Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum, much sought after by herbalists. I have it in the street area.


This is Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus. I consider it a weed in my garden, as it is so large.


Looks like it could be Spotted Knapweed, Centaurea maculosa.


This is Rabbit-foot Clover,Trifolium arvense.

This is a Yellow Clover, a filed clover, Trifolium Campestre, also known as Low Hop Clover. Thank you Carey for your help with these two identifications.