Friday, August 9, 2013

roadside, queen anne's lace



















Yes, I was smitten with wildflowers last weekend. I think I've told this before, but when I was 4 or 5 I brought home a handful of Queen Anne's Lace I'd gathered by the side of our lane, only to be told they were weeds. It took me a long time to get past that, but now I bask in their gentle beauty. What I didn't realize, until recently, is how crazy interesting they are pre and post flower. And how beautiful an abundance of them growing wild looks, all that lacy white framed in green.





21 comments:

  1. I love them, too. funny thing is, if I would have brought them home as a kid, my mum would have said the same. weeds. if I'd bring them home now, she'd love them.

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  2. Pretty, pretty. They grow in some wet mountain areas here, but I have loved them since I first noticed them in Country Living magazine pictures many many years ago. What a luxury to just stop and pick some somewhere!

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    1. I was thinking that before the road was built there was probably a meadow of them.

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  3. Jen... So pretty. I don't think I have ever thought of them as weeds, but wild flowers. Here in the South we love an excuse to have a party.. A bridal tea or shower, baby showers, you name it... We are all in. Usually one of the party hostesses does the flowers. These arrangements always included Queen Anne's Lace! Grab a few roses, gladiolus, some greenery, whatever else you have blooming, add the Queen in a cut glass vase... Good to go! Thanks for a peek along your roadsides... Happy wandering! Susan

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    1. I've been seeing it in some gorgeous arrangements--and it really adds something special.

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  4. So pretty Jen! I have a thing for wildflowers too. Especially in spring when the fields and roadsides are full of them.

    Happy weekend!

    Madelief x

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    1. There's something so heart-warming about wildflowers.

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  5. We had tons of them in the fields growing around my house growing up so they're very nostalgic for me. But also because, being a boy scout, we knew they're really a wild carrot. So the next time you pick some, you may want to also pull the roots for dinner.

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  6. It's funny how they grow wild and are hard to grow in the garden, hence the word wild I suppose. And, wow Steve, a wild carrot? That's interesting, never would have known that. It's nice to have a boy(man)scout showing us the ropes!

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  7. I love it and the english equivalent, cow parsley.

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  8. Cow parsley! What a great name.

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  9. it's hard for me to drive this time of year. i can't keep my eyes on the road. and i want to stop for pictures constantly. this is what summer is for me. oceans of queen anne's lace. and i'm sure i've told you a million times, but my wedding bouquet was queen anne's lace. my mother picked it for me from their fields the morning of my wedding.
    loooove your pictures.

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    1. Your recent post that included queen anne's lace was very moving!

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  10. It is pretty, isn't it. Cow parsley never keeps well once picked, though, as the water begins to smell bad very quickly. But children love to pick it, and who are we to say they shouldn't?

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    1. cow parsley, wild carrots, queen anne's lace--such wonderful names!

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  11. In my garden, unless I am imagining it, they seem to get a hint of a contagion of colour from surrounding wildflowers, so that they are often white with a tint of violet, blue or yellow.

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    1. I have seen some tinted violet in florists bouquets, but never blue or yellow. I wonder if they are affected by the soil, like hydrangeas.

      So nice to see you, Mise!

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  12. You know what they say Jen, a weed is only a plant growing in the wrong place. I think there are some really pretty 'weeds' and that is one of them!

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