Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus Carnota): It’s hard to imagine that such a pretty delicate flower could be so disruptive to your garden, but believe me, it can!
Left alone, it can quickly take over your garden- each plant can produce up to 40,000 seeds. And while a sea of white lacey flowers seem desirable, it is not, as it will quickly crowd out the other plants you would rather have growing. It’s especially problematic when developing new meadows and prairie plantings.
Its origins are in Europe, and it belongs to the carrot family (Apiaceae) - in fact, when you pull it, it kind of smells like carrots. It’s also known as Wild Carrot, Bee’s Nest, and Bird’s Nest.
Here in the state of Michigan, it's listed as a noxious weed. While I usually don’t advocate hand-pulling weeds (it disturbs the roots of other nearby plants and just brings more seeds to the surface), I do pull Queen Anne’s Lace out of the ground. The carrot-like taproot makes it especially easy to remove cleanly from the ground.
If you can’t pull it, just cut it below the flowers so it does not seed. You can also treat it with a herbicide, but I find this difficult since it imbeds itself so closely to other nearby plants in my native gardens. Good Luck!
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