The Carrot family, Daucus, includes many species. There’s the edible kind we usually see at markets, Queen Anne Lace in the Springtime that pop up along the roads and the special kind I’m sharing with you now. Allow me to explain how I came across this discovery; I was researching what sort of plants got tall for Wendys Garden. I had seen mentioned Daucus in a list of unusual plants in Derry Watkins website, a famous plants person in England.
I knew the two to be family related, carrots and Queen Annes Lace, but not until that moment did I understand I could grow carrots for ornamental purposes! I suppose I’m not the first to get this, but I haven’t seen Giant Carrots grown in any other gardens but Wendys 
and the Lafond Vegetable Garden that I’ve planted. As I delved into investigating this,
I happened upon a wise old Garden person in town who was demonstrated collecting and germinating seeds at my worksite. He brought along a very long carrot, both in root and tops. He gently shook out the seeds and brought them directly into an awaiting pot of soil, slightly pressing them in and covering it with a light layer of soil. Those were the first batch of carrots for me.
It takes four months of germination to be able to handle the seedlings and gently plant them in the soil. Meanwhile, I ordered coloured carrot seeds ,like red or purple, and began growing these too. In Spring time, when the seedlings were about 3′ tall, I landed them in the gardens. After 5 months, some are 6′ tall and 4′ wide, glorious Umbels that keep on blooming and growing, unlike Queen Annes Lace that gives up the moment summers heat begins.
Gracefully present but not overwhelming, the Queen Umbels are a dependable source of frilly, lacy and interestingly but neutrally tinted flowers thru the Spring, Summer, Fall and I hope, Winter! I always use them in Wendys Bouquets. I love combining the soft and feminine form of the Daucus with opposite forms, like thistle, or Spider Dahlias for contrast. I’ve made cuts of up to 3′ feet on these with three or four sections to be used. I imagine Wedding Bouquets consisting of these instead of babys breath for filler, or alone as a stark and graceful effect.
The insects love these. I’ve observed 15 different insects on each open faced umbel at a time, so oblivious to me I could have touched them, just in heaven being in that flat floret faced beauty. The insects don’t eat the plants, just down the pollen and nectar like its booze and sugar, which in a way, it is. Fortunately there’s plenty of flowers for me, the bouquets and the insects as these never seem to stop making new flowers.
Another great benefit to the garden, the long taproots draw nutrients from the deeper layer of earth, which feeds the soil and thus itself, so it requires little if any fertilizer! The more consistently you use them the more they bloom. I will be growing many more of these, either for the edible roots for the Bistro at the Lafond Garden or the beauteous flowers for Bouguets at the Deli in Montecito. Its great having something like this turn out to be a beautifully stumbled upon useful flower~
Plants are so wonderful! Praise the plants!
Rose Moradian
Click image to enlarge:
Dries van Noten is one of our favorite designers and one of our most popular. Kelly Petersen, the manager of the
Recent Comments