In this summer of heat and dryness Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) a naturalized native of temperate Europe that is ubiquitous in Northern Illinois seems especially successful, though that might just be because so many other plants are taking a break this year.  When I noticed some friends on Facebook extolling the virtues of Daucus carota, I recalled an unshared Garden Center Journal entry that touched on my own issue with Queen Anne’s Lace.  And no, at its core this is not about whether Queen Anne’s Lace is a noxious weed or an object of beauty and joy.  It is rather a realization that before we can even have a discussion, we have to know and agree on a name.

 

What’s in a Name: from Lace to Rags to Big Trees

Occasionally my wife reminds me that before we met I thought that Queen Anne’s Lace was ragweed.  I could not identify actual ragweed.  Some years ago I discovered that my father similarly misidentified Queen Anne’s Lace proving once again that old adage about the acorn falling in close proximity to the Oak tree. 

And while in nature Queen Anne’s Lace and ragweed are unrelated, I can understand how a non-botanical, practical person like my dad (or me) could make such a mistake.  Queen Anne’s Lace is named for its distinctive, umbrell shaped (kind of like an umbrella) white flowers that are actually an agglomeration of little white flowers that radiate upward and outward giving the overall bloom an airy quality reminiscent of lace.  Lace to the poet, it might be more of a rag to one who must deal with the plant on a typically sunny, hot, humid summer day.  On such a day, particularly if one molests this rough stemmed invader of disturbed ground, a strong aromatic, not totally pleasant scent (sweeter than wintergreen with a rough edge) envelops one, stimulating at minimum a tingling feeling in the nose.  It would be easy to associate this feeling with ragweed whose pollen we are told is a major component of grief for many allergy sufferers.  Of course the release of pollen at a particular time of the year is totally unrelated (a sexual thing) to an important defense characteristic that makes Queen Anne’s Lace nearly invulnerable to browsers.

I start to think about all of this as I painstakingly paint the simulated muntin bars in the nine light window of a door in the Big Barn listening to the banter between a middle age couple and my wife as they discuss the couples’ need for some trees.  It turns out that they have long confused two major species of trees—Oaks and Maples.  Before Nancy sets them straight they believed that Oaks were Maples and that Maples were Oaks.  As I listen to these two seemingly intelligent and very pleasant adults, I contemplate their confusion with some amazement.  I hear Nancy refer to some Swamp White Oaks, “these will get acorns, in fact you can see some immature acorns ripening …”

Then I hear the male say like one is who is trying to reinforce a newly learned fact, “Acorns—Oaks, Oaks—Acorns.”  Then like one who is really beginning to get it he asks, “So it’s maples that get spinners?” referring to the seeds which many Maples develop that come with a little wing that causes the seeds to fly to earth like micro helicopters.   Nancy answers yes.  “I like the spinners,” he says.  He and his wife speculate that it is probably “the child in him,” and they both laughingly agree that fortunately that feature is at the core of his personality.   

All those years I heard about ragweed pollen counts and actually experienced plenty of allergy symptoms, I could never exactly understand how physically the plant that I now know is a Queen Anne’s Lace could have been the source of all that pollen, but I guess I never explored that incongruity.  When I actually learned what plant really was ragweed, it produced one of those “aha” moments.   I could see right away that this plant might be capable of releasing loads of pollen in a bit of breeze, and given its invasive nature and amazing vitality in most years, I finally understood my nemesis.  This hasn’t changed my life in any material way, but at least it allows me the satisfaction of understanding, and that gives me another tiny connection with reality.  Ignorance may be blissful but given the choice I will take understanding with its potential for continuing revelation.

The couple seem pleased enough with their new understanding and with the trees that we have available.  They select two Maples (with spinners), an Oak (with acorns), and an Ornamental Pear.  Well after the couple has left I am still painting and thinking about trees and plants and how they are identified.  I guess one can appreciate a tree or any plant without knowing its name or much about it.  But the name sure makes it easier to file little bits of information and to catalog observations in various times of the year and through a plant’s life.  It also makes it a lot easier to talk about with other people, especially if they too are acquainted with the name. 

Perhaps it was appropriate for the Farm’s 4th annual Garden Festival—A Summer Celebration, but to me that Saturday, June 23rd felt a lot like this year’s first day of summer.  Oh yes, 2012 has been a hot year with warm temperatures that one would associate with summer beginning in March, but almost all of those warm days featured deep blue skies, beautiful breezes and very low humidity which gave them a quality that was fresh and if not totally spring like, definitely a long way from the more oppressive heat of real summer in Northern Illinois.  The day of the festival was not that hot, but it was one of the first rather humid days, featuring a hazy sky (that even produced a halo around the sun) and a misty horizon by later in the day.  And since then, by and large the humidity has hung on and become part of an uncomfortable tag team along with the soaring temperatures.

Of course the humidity probably had some involvement with our first precipitation in several weeks.  And while that falling moisture is welcome (and still much needed) it has been interesting to witness so many days without cumulus buildups or any clouds of any kind in the sky.  Growing and maintaining plants in such conditions was interesting too, though not always very profitable or very pretty.  It will be a challenge to perform efficiently in both heat and humidity and there is certainly no guarantee that the paltry rain amounts will increase now that it is officially summer.

While we’re not exactly ready to “roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer,” (yea, I’m old enough to remember that Nat King Cole hit from 1963) which can be hot sticky and hardly a fun time to be in the garden, we don’t have anything to do with such scheduling, so we are kind of catching up and trying to do some planning.  Back in April, fortunately after one of our last Power Point presentations, our hand-me-down lap top computer suddenly gave us that white and blue striped last gasp screen while refusing to function at all.  It finally got diagnosed last week (terminal—needs a new mother board) and a new lap top was added to our equipment list.  Like all of that equipment from weed whacker (we just got a new one of those, too), to greenhouses, to cargo van, it all costs money but it all has an impact on how much everything costs at the Farm.  The right equipment helps control costs and makes us all more productive and makes life or least our Farm life, a lot more fun.  I am looking forward to having access to a computer a bit before I fall asleep in the evening rather than after Nancy completes all of her computing chores.  I am hoping that access to a computer will rev this blog up a bit and help you share in some of the “goings on” here at the Farm.