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My Grandma’s Favorite

July 3rd, 2012

My dad’s mom always said that Queen Anne’s Lace was her favorite flower.  I don’t know if it’s true, or if she just said that because we’d pick bouquets of it for her.


I happen to love it and always let it grow and bloom, though I cut the seed heads to keep it from spreading to liberally. Now that I’ve been cultivating it I have a few really nice patches of it.

If you look closely, Queen Anne’s Lace is actually one big flower made up of thousands of tiny flowers.

I’m not the only one that loves it, it’s constantly abuzz with little pollinators. Some folks may consider it a weed, but I’ll always have some growing in my gardens and I’ll often think of my Grandma Meade when I see the first white lacy bloom.

What’s your favorite wildflower?

18 Comments to “My Grandma’s Favorite”
  1. KimH on July 3, 2012 at 5:32 am

    Thats really difficult.. I love all wildflowers.

    In Ohio, I think its Phlox.. in Texas its either Bluebonnets, Purple Horsemint, Indian paintbrush, or yarrow. There are way too many in Texas to even begin to pick just one. Its also one of the things I miss the most from Texas as well.. The fields are alive with color most of the spring & summer, some blanket the entire field & is quite spectacular.

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  2. jennifer on July 3, 2012 at 6:45 am

    Lupine is my favorite. Next spring you will enjoy it all over your new countryside.

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  3. Andrea Duke on July 3, 2012 at 6:47 am

    I don’t have a favorite. I like seeing patches of any of them on the side of a road.

    When I was little, my Grandmother and I would cut Queen Anne’s Lace and put them in colored water. It was always something I thought was fun to do when I was little. The flowers would take on the color they were put in.

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  4. Mich on July 3, 2012 at 8:00 am

    I love wildflowers but to choose my favorite….i guess it would have to be the Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemun vulgare) it waves at you from alot of road side verges here. A cheery little flower.

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  5. Julia on July 3, 2012 at 8:21 am

    My favorite from my childhood is red clover. I didn’t know what it was then, but I saw a ton at summer camp and fell in love. (We didn’t seem to have much in my green grass suburb!)

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  6. K.B. on July 3, 2012 at 9:40 am

    That’s like asking me to pick a favourite chocolate! I loved seeing the wild Lady’s Slippers (and other orchids – I think I saw three different species in total) in Saskatchewan when I lived there, and I love the milkweed and naturalized tiger lilies here, but if I really must pick a favourite (and it’s still not going to be one), it’s the combination of goldenrod and the purple “farewell-summers” (wild asters) that appear here every fall. There is also a white one that flowers at the same time (I really need to figure out what it is), and the patchwork of all three, flowering side by side by side along roadways and in meadows, is the perfect show to usher in autumn.

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  7. Dave@GrowingTheHomeGarden on July 3, 2012 at 10:08 am

    It’s definitely a pretty wildflower if you have the space for it! When I was a kid we used to put cut flowers of Queen Anne’s Lace in food colored water. You could watch the color change in the flowers. Pretty neat, I should show my kids this now that I remember it!

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    • Liz J on July 3, 2012 at 7:20 pm

      Great idea ~ you need to do that!

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  8. Rhonda on July 3, 2012 at 10:35 am

    I have Queen Ann’s Lace growing in my back yard for the first time in six years. It’s amazing what will grow once you fire the chemical spraying lawn service. :-) I think my favorite wild flowers are violets and daisies.

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  9. Heidi Partin on July 3, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    One summer one of my mom’s crafts (she always entertained us with some kind of hands on activity) was pressing Queen Anne’s Lace in clear contact paper. We then cut around the edges (not too close) and put in a hole with a hole puncher. Around Christmas time she pulled them out and we hung them on the Christmas tree. They were beautiful.

    Reply to Heidi Partin's comment

    • Susy on July 3, 2012 at 11:13 pm

      That’s a great idea – I might have to make those.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  10. Maybelline on July 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    California Poppy!

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  11. Kathi Cook on July 3, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    daisies,trillium,lady slipper orchid,and Jack -in – the -pulpit

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  12. Joan on July 3, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    As I started to write my favorites, the list in my head was so long that I gave up. I usually start out in the spring by saying that the wild anenomes are my favorite (because then I know that spring is really here), but as the summer progresses, I have so many ‘favorites’.

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  13. Liz J on July 3, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    Queen Anne’s Lace has always been my favorite, it is so intricate. I love photographing them and then getting a really good look at them CLOSE UP! Next I would say is Indian Paint Brushes ~ wonderful childhood memories. Of all the flowers, I love the wild ones the most.

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  14. Jodiana on July 3, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    My favorite is Queen Anne’s Lace. For some strange reason it never grew in the yard that I currently own. So last fall I collected some seed heads and spread them around here. This year I finally have this most lovely flower. :)

    Reply to Jodiana's comment

  15. dkswife on July 4, 2012 at 7:38 am

    I never seen QAL prior to moving to the midwest. I think it is beautiful, and it is good for cows too :) Like one of your previous posters, I really believe the most gorgeous wildflowers are found in Texas. That is where I grew up, and they are just everywhere.

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  16. Sincerely, Emily on July 10, 2012 at 8:56 am

    I have always loved the wild daisies and black-eyed Susan’s up in MN and WI and used to pick a bouquet for my desk each week. But I think I love all wild flowers. I just got a Queen Anne’s Lacy in a plant swap and really really hope it survives the heat and drought of this summer to go to see so I can have a few more. The deer have been regularly visiting the back yard and I noticed they have munched it down to nothing. I am trying not to give up hope because I would like some in my gardens. Yours is beautiful!

    Reply to Sincerely, Emily's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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