Family

Apiaceae

Description

Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) invites a wild, lacy lightness to summer plantings with its flat—topped umbels and slender, blue-green foliage. Though often dismissed as a roadside weed, this biennial is the wild ancestor of the cultivated carrot and has a long history of naturalization in North America. Its seed heads dry into sculptural forms that persist through the fall, adding texture and a sense of seasonal transition to unmanaged edges and looser planning schemes.

 

Native to Europe and western Asia, Daucus carota has naturalized widely across temperate North America, particularly in disturbed soils and field margins. In the garden, it pairs well with grasses and late-season perennials, though its aggressive self-seeding requires some intervention to keep it in balance.

Bloom Time

June to September