Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Asparagus and Queen Anne's Lace

We have been wanting to grow our own asparagus for a few years now. Asparagus is one of those plants that takes longer than one season to mature and produce, and for some reason this fact always caused us to delay planting. But finally, this spring, we ordered some seeds along with the rest of our garden veggies, and got them started in the greenhouse.

The spears may not be edible yet, but I have been enjoying their leafy tops all season long.

I had no idea that such a common-looking vegetable could produce such lovely, delicate, lacy greenery.

And speaking of surprising vegetable greenery, did you know that these pretty flowers...

come from another common vegetable?

Me either.

When I first spotted them, I thought I had Queen Anne's Lace growing in my garden.

And now I'm wondering... if I were to go out into the woods and pull up a Queen Anne plant, would I find that the roots look like carrots?

2 comments:

Missy said...

The flower of the carrot is where we get carrot seeds from. Queen Anne's Lace is also known as Wild Carrot BUT BE AWARE that there is a plant that looks much like Queen Anne's Lace which is toxic, it's called Water Hemlock. I myself would never eat the carrot from Queen Anne's Lace....just don't want to take the chance.

Beth Twist said...

Missy... oh, my no! I would never just eat a random root from nature, and I did know that carrot seeds came from their blooms, I had just never actually SEEN a carrot in bloom. I did know that Water Hemlock was poisonous and looks like a carrot, but to my knowledge doesn't grow in my area.