Q is for Queen Anne’s Lace

The morning dew draws your eye to the lace while a new spider web anchors the flower to surrounding grasses. Delicate in appearance unlike its corpulent name sake, Queen Anne’s Lace is a welcome guest on our land. Similar in appearance to poison hemlock, make sure to know the difference unless your name be Socrates.

While also useful for eating (the wild carrot) or treating gout we simply appreciate its role in attracting pollinators. Like the butterfly bushes, crape myrtles and hydrangeas around our house and the iron weed in the fields, Queen’s Anne Lace in bloom is covered by honey bees, butterflies, wasps and humming birds.

As one guest species to another we appreciate its contributions.

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Reading this week: Seamanship: a voyage along the wild coasts of the British Isles by Adam Nicholson. A book about a modern man’s lack of life shaping drama and skills needed.