Pretty cut flower or a weed? - wild carrot

Sunset, Nov, 1986

Pretty cut flower or a weed? Queen Anne's lace or Devil's plague--these two common names for the wild carrot (Daucus carota) reveal its dual nature. Under some circumstances, iths a weed that takes over vacant lots and roadsides, but it can also be a pretty cut flowre if you can keep the plants under control. For your efforts in managing the plant, you get a profusion of delicate lacy blooms atop 3- to 5-foot-tall stalks in spring and summer.

Queen Anne's lace flowers at the same time as agapanthus and looks especially attractive combined with it in the garden. HJow can you keep this prolific plant from getting out of hand? Once blooming starts, check daily to catch flowers as they mature. Cut flowers for bouquets, or put spent blossoms in the garbage. Don't let them set seed, and don't put them in the compost. Also, if you remove blossoms before they produce seeds, you will enjoy a longer bloom season.

Since seeds are so obliging, the plant is easy to propagate. In mild-winter areas, you can sow now in a sunny spot for bloom next spring and summer. Where winters are cold and snowy, wait until spring. Bait for snails and slugs. Anyh plant that luxuriates alongside highways obviously doesn't need much care, but Queen Anne's lace will do best in loose, fast-draining soil with moderate watering. Two sources are The Country Garden, Route 2, Box 455, Crivitz, Wis. 54114 (catalog $2, price list free), and Passiflora Wildflower Company, Route 1, Bos 190-A, Germanton, N.C. 27019 ($1)