July 28, 2012
Wildflowers in the city brighten litter piles and granite block walls with their cheerful presence. Uninvited, their roots anchoring them in the inadvertent dirt of the slightest of cracks, they sneak a little country into disregarded urban spaces. I’ve loved Queen Anne’s Lace since I was a little girl, growing up in a small town. And every time I see it now in the nooks and crannies of my city it brings a childhood grin back to my face.
As a child I was facinated by them too probably partly for the romance of the name. Years later when we had a home and a scant four acres in Humboldt County in CA – big redwood country – I used to gather their seeds and use them in cooking. Queen Ann’s Lace is also called Wild Carrot. I gather you can eat the roots too. Only after we moved away and back to the city I found out that it is hard to distinguish QAL from Hemlock. I think we lucked out because Hemlock doesn’t grow in CA.
Jamie Dedes
July 29, 2012 at 2:02 am
Wow, what a story! Guess I’ll just look and not cook, although I am intrigued by the idea of the latter.
mairmusic
July 29, 2012 at 9:36 am
Must admit it brings back memories for me also..have some planted in my back flower bed. :-)
slpmartin
July 30, 2012 at 1:49 am
(: I’ve always believed that wildflowers aren’t weeds unless they aren’t where you want them.
mairmusic
July 30, 2012 at 9:06 am
nature blesses us in abundance.
Sharmishtha Basu
July 30, 2012 at 11:26 am
truly.
mairmusic
July 30, 2012 at 12:27 pm