Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) is also known as wild carrot.
Planting, Growing, and Caring for Queen Anne's Lace
A long-lasting filler for floral bouquets, this flower—with its umbrella-shaped flower clusters—can add interest to your garden and invite pollinators. It’s an ancestor of the garden carrot! Learn how to plant, grow, and care for Queen Anne’s lace.
About Queen Anne’s Lace
Queen Anne’s lace is often called “wild carrot,” and if you’ve ever let a carrot in the garden stay over winter to flower the next year, you’ll see why. The foliage looks similar, and the plant has a taproot like our garden carrots. Our tasty orange vegetables had their roots, so to speak, in Daucus carota, also known as Queen Anne’s lace. In fact, those root veggies we love are actually a subspecies, D. carota var. sativus.
Gardeners grow this biennial for its lacy flower heads, not the roots.
- During the first year, it makes a basal rosette of leaves and focuses on storing energy.
- During the second year, the flowers bloom in late spring and early summer. They begin as a round, goblet-shaped gathering of stems before opening to an umbel, with hundreds of florets on each.
- After pollination, the flower closes again to resemble a bird’s nest.
The entire plant looks similar to dill and is often mistaken for other plants, including poison hemlock, false Queen Anne’s lace, giant hogweed, angelica, or cow parsnip.
Note: Queen Anne’s lace is considered an invasive or noxious weed in some areas of the country. Check with your local agricultural office and your state’s invasive species list. If Daucus carota is a no-go in your area, consider False Queen Anne’s lace, Ammi visagna or Ammi majus, which are less weedy and invasive.
Planting
Select a site with good drainage and full sun for the best blooms. This plant doesn’t mind poor, less fertile soils (part of the reason it’s invasive in many areas) and will tolerate most conditions.
The mature plants are susceptible to windthrow. Avoid unsheltered locations or local wind tunnel effects, such as between a shed and the garage.
When to Plant Queen Anne’s Lace
Direct seed Queen Anne’s lace in spring after the last frosts or start them indoors 4-6 weeks prior to transplanting. Southern gardeners can also sow them in autumn. The seedlings establish more quickly in cooler temperatures.
How to Plant Queen Anne’s Lace
- Cold treat the seeds for 2 weeks at 35-40℉.
- Prepare the bed or seed tray. If planting outdoors, removing the weeds and raking the surface smooth is sufficient.
- Sow seeds shallowly. Instead of making trenches or holes, sprinkle the seeds in rows or into cells and lightly cover them.
- Keep moist until germination.
- Thin seedlings when the first true leaves begin to appear.
- If transplanting, harden off and then use a final plant spacing of 6-12” between plants.
Queen Anne’s Lace is generally white, which provides an outstanding contrast in most bouquets. However, there are some color varieties.
- ‘Chocolate Lace’ is a unique heirloom variety. The color starts as a deep burgundy, transitions to light cocoa as the flower matures, and ends as a bright white. Even after the blooming phase concludes, the seed heads transform into enchanting, whimsically curled structures resembling a miniature perch for a traveling fairy.
- ‘Purple Kisses’ is another variation on the regular white Queen Anne’s Lace. It comes in beautiful shades of pink, dark purple, and white. And it’s another outstanding cut flower that’s long-lasting.
Andy Wilcox
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I consider Queen Anne's lace an invasive but beautiful weed. Once you have it, it spreads everywhere. It is also the bane of dogs with medium to long fur. I have spent many hours combing the burr-like seeds out of my Brussels Griffons and Lhasa apso. The seeds cling to everything. I don't know how many socks I have had to throw away after walking through some that has gone to seed. If you decide that you just must have some Queen Anne's lace, be sure to get out there and deadhead them and don't were knit clothing of any kind. You definitely don't want them to go to seed.
In the 60s on my grandparents farm, my Nana showed me how to dye Queen Anne's Lace by adding food coloring to the water in a cup. As a tiny girl, I thought that was the greatest project, and through my life it was always a special memory of my grandmother and me together. I've been doing it most every summer since. I adore the simple pleasures of life! And now I do the same project with my little grandchildren!
Where can Queen Anne lace seeds or plants be purchased?
I live in San Joaquin county where can I buy the seeds for Queen Ann’s Lace? Retired floral designer and would like it in my yard
It's an invasive weed. I hate the stuff!
