Daucus carota Wild Carrot, Queen anne's lace, Carrot, Wild Carrot, Queen Anne's Lace PFAF Plant Database (2024)

FAQs

Is Daucus carota a perennial? ›

A bushy perennial with a strong, ridged stem. The small, white flowers are grouped together into dense, convex umbels with a single small red flower in the centre. This plant flowers from June to September and suits rough, open grasslands and generally chalky soils.

Sow the seeds shallowly, just barely covering them with soil or growing medium. Generally, germination takes 10 to 20 days. Thin seedlings to six inches apart when large enough to handle.

Queen Anne's lace is related to dill and cilantro and is often referred to as wild carrot. Like the garden carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus), it is a biennial plant—completing its life cycle in two years.

Wild carrot or Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota) is a biennial. The plant forms a basal (low growing) rosette of foliage during the first growing season, and then produces a tall stalk for flower production the second year.

Once the taproot (carrot) is removed it cannot grow another. When cut from the top, the growing point for the taproot is removed, however the growing tip for new leaves is not removed.

Cover seed with ¼ to ½ inch of soil and keep seedbed evenly moist. Carrots are best planted in the spring and fall. They do not grow well during hot weather. For a fall crop, plant 10 – 12 weeks before the first frost.

Queen Anne's Lace

It typically grows 2 feet to 3 feet tall, and its stems are lightly fuzzy with small grooves. Coming into contact with Queen Anne's lace will not cause a problem for many people, but those with sensitive skin may develop irritation or blistering, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

To grow Queen Anne's lace as a biennial, sow seeds where you want the plants to grow in early autumn, while the soil is still warm. To grow Queen Anne's lace as an annual, sow seeds where you want the plants to grow in mid spring.

Hand-pulling or mowing can be effective to control Queen Anne's lace in the mid- to late summer before seed set. However, herbicide applications have proven the most effective method of control.

Queen Anne's lace spreads aggressively by reseeding itself. It adapts easily to poor soil conditions and tends to grow where many things won't. To cut back on the spread, it's a good idea to snip off the flower heads before they go to seed. The plants can also be dug out by their taproots before they go to seed.

How invasive is Queen Anne's lace? ›

Many people consider Queen Anne's lace an invasive weed (it is listed as a noxious weed in at least 35 states), but it is used by some native animals for food. It is a host plant for eastern black swallowtail caterpillars and many butterflies and adult bees and beneficial insects utilize the flower nectar.

How to Plant Queen Anne's Lace. Sow seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost date in your region. Queen Anne's lace also grows well when sown directly into the garden bed. Once planted, it is unlikely that you will have to plant them again, as the flowers propagate their seeds freely.

Queen Anne's Lace:

The white flower head is edible raw or lightly battered and fried. The seeds work well in soups and stews and can flavor tea, too. If you catch these plants early enough, you can eat the roots and leaves.

Wild carrot is also commonly known as Queen Anne's Lace or Bird's Nest. It is a biennial botanically classified as Daucus carota, and a member of the Parsley Family (Apiaceae or Umbelliferae). The plant is entirely edible and has strong ties to herbal medicine, some even claim it to be an aphrodisiac.

When wild carrots are young, the taproot which is white and smells like carrots is edible. But it quickly develops a bitter taste and turns woody making it unpleasant to eat. The flowers, stems, and leaves are edible when young as well, and are sometimes used in herbal teas.

Carrots are biennial vegetables, though they are typically harvested in their first year of growth before they overwinter and set flowers the following year. Carrot foliage is finely dissected with fern-like compound leaves. Carrot flowers have five petals and sepals and are born in compound umbels.

Parsnips and carrots can be overwintered in a garden bed that is covered with 3 to 4 inches of mulch in the late fall. The mulch keeps the roots frozen through the winter. In our short climate. The trick to overwintering carrots and parsnips is to start them in the spring, so they are mature at the end of the fall .

Botanical details. Daucus are more commonly known as wild carrot, a group of herbaceous, biennial (although not always) plants which can reach a height of between 30 to 60cm.

A gorgeous hardy annual, Daucus carota 'Dara' is a lovely cultivar of the wild carrot. Beautiful lacy, umbelliferous flowers of varying shades of dark red though to creamy white on very long, elegant stems of up to a metre tall.