Queen Anne’s Lace always makes me think of the scene in Anne of Green Gables when Diana Barry tucks a sprig of the summer flower into her best friend Anne’s hair. She tells Anne, “This is the very last of the Queen Anne’s Lace of the summer.” She then says, ” Don’t worry about your hair. No one even notices it anymore.” Her tender gesture and reassurance speaks to the sweet and inseparable bond of friendship between the girls.
I think it is one of the prettiest wildflowers of summer. Every year I look forward to the sight of the dainty and delicate white flowers that decorate roadsides and fields.
I recently read the story about how the flower got its name. Legend says that Queen Anne, b.1574 (wife of King James I of England and Scotland), was tatting with her friends when one of them challenged her to create a piece of lace that was as beautiful as a flower. Anne accepted the challenge, but while working, she pricked her finger with her needle, and a drop of her blood fell onto the lace. It is said, therefore, that the tiny purple-red flower in the center of the “lace” represents the droplet of her blood.
Another version of the tale says that the story refers not to Anne, wife of King James I, but Queen Anne of Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Ireland), b.1665.
Either way – the 1574 Anne or the 1665 Anne – it’s a good story.
Cheers,
Lovely. Also known as cow parsley, a name that tickles me.
Interesting lore. I prefer the story of Anne, the wife of James I. I still can’t unsee the awful recent movie about Queen Anne.
Ha, yes that is a funny name. I was surprised to learn it is similar to a carrot. I haven’t seen the movie. What did you not like about it?
The Favourite…absolutely depraved psychosick characters. Not a redeeming element to the film. I had hopes for it because I like Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) as an actress. But no!
Yikes!
Thank you for this interesting history lesson. Recently I learned that if you put Queen Anne’s Lace blossoms in water with food-coloring dye, the flower turns that color. I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to!
Oh I bet they would look beautiful! I might have to give that a try.
Interesting story! I’m not sure if I’ve seen that flower in my travels to Europe but it has a resemblance to white flowers that I found interesting in the mountains in Switzerland. I love flowers especially the wild ones!
I love wildflowers too. Makes me think of “Sense and Sensibility” when Willoughby brings Marianne a bouquet of wildflowers and she says, “These are not from the hothouse!” 🙂
I love these legends. A very pretty flower. The endearing friendship between Anne and Diana is one of the many reasons I love the book, Anne of Green Gables.
It’s one of my favorite books, although I didn’t actually discover the series until I was an adult.
I was reminded of this part of the story when listening to Fresh Snow [Series 5, Episode 2 of Kathryn Nicolai’s podcast “Nothing Much Happens; bedtime stories for grownups,” and my Google search for “Queen Anne’s Lace Anne of Green Gables” brought me to your page. Thank you.
As a multi-generational Southwestern Ontario farmer, I’d heard the legend from my maternal grandmother. They often decorated the kitchen table in season.
I read all the Anne of Green Gables books to Mhairi, my elder daughter, and to her and Martha, her 6½ years younger sister, though Mhairi took over reading to Martha at times.
Queen Anne’s lace was widespread in our rural countryside, so this piece in the story resonated, and every year we take note of when it’s getting to “the very last of the Queen Anne’s Lace of the summer.”
https://www.nothingmuchhappens.com/stories/2020/1/26/season-five-episode-two-fresh-snow
P.S. I just looked at your About Me page … I had 52 Highland cattle before I retired. 😁