Benefical Plants: Queen Anne’s Lace
I always love the season of Queen Anne’s Lace. It really is such a lovely wild flower (or weed). It’s like a snowflake in the middle of summer (particularly from underneath).
Queen Anne’s Lace was one of my grandma’s favorite flowers. I remember her always commenting on how much she loved it (perhaps that’s why her crocheted doilies always looked like it).
We seem to be having a bumper crop of them this year, and I don’t mind! Sometimes in order to not see something as a weed all you have to do is look at it closely and find something beautiful.
It is a very beneficial plant, even though many people classify it as an invasive weed. Queen Anne’s Lace provides beneficial nectar to insects during this dry part of the summer when they don’t have many options. Caterpillars of the Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly eat the leaves, bees and other insects drink the nectar, and predatory insects, such as the Green Lacewing, come to Queen Anne’s Lace to attack prey, such as aphids.
Can you appreciate the beauty and benefits of a weed?
