Bishop’s Lace Guide: How To Grow White Bishop’s Lace (Butterfly Flowers)

Originating from Europe, these plants are also called wild carrots since the more domesticated carrot was derived from this plant.¹ It was brought over to North America as a medicinal plant by the early colonizers.

The Bishop’s Lace symbolism is connected to its lacy appearance compared to the fine and coveted lace produced for Queen Anne (wife of King James I) in the 17th century. It represents, most of all, safety and sanctuary.

The violet/red flower cluster in the center of the umbel of flowers represents a drop of blood from Queen Anne, which has dripped on and stained the lace.

The Bishop’s Lace is an aggressive spreader,² which is why it’s considered invasive in some areas. It’s important that you consider this before planting Queen Anne’s lace in your garden or landscape, although if you do plant them, there are techniques to keep them from spreading initially.

Image Credit: Matthias Böckel (matthiasboeckel)²⁶

Tips for Growing a Bishop’s Lace From a Seed, Cutting, or Seedling

In general, Queen Anne’s Lace is an easy plant to grow, in fact, more care must be taken to avoid unwanted spreading as opposed to growing it from scratch. If you want a garden that has plenty of beneficial pollinators, Queen Anne’s Lace is a good choice since it can attract varying bees and butterflies into your garden or landscape.

Here are some planting tips for Bishop’s Lace including the proper soil, sunlight, and water for effective growth.

How To Plant the Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace is a Biennial plant; this means that it takes two years to go through its lifecycle. When to plant Bishop’s Lace for the best yield depends on the particular stage you are planting at.

Planting From a Seed

The Queen Anne’s Lace is a self propagator, which means that it can effectively seed vast areas. This means you can easily plant them from a seed.

We recommend planting seeds while the soil is still warm in early autumn.³

You can easily scatter the seeds onto the soil and press them in. You don’t have to worry about digging deep holes for the seeds as they are designed to grow anywhere and will settle into soil as it grows its taproot.

It’s important to regularly water the seeds early in their growth. They require moist soil in order to properly grow and root themselves.

Planting From a Seedling

It is possible to begin growing your Queen Anne’s Lace seeds inside or in a pot before transferring it into the ground. It is better to plant it from a seed since transferring it puts you at risk of damaging the taproot and root system.

(Image: Сергей Корчанов²⁹)

This being said, you can begin to grow your Queen Anne’s Lace indoors in early autumn. Like the Bishop’s Flower they can be transplanted 2 to 4 weeks after the last hard frost.⁴

You want to avoid transplanting your seedlings in the cold since the stress of transplanting will be enough of a shock to the plant.

Planting From a Cutting

You cannot grow Queen Anne’s Lace from leaf or flower cuttings, however, you can grow it from root divisions. Dividing up the roots and taking a section that is still attached to foliage should be sufficient.

You can plant that into soil that drains well during the warmer months to avoid the shock of cold in addition to the shock of transplanting. It is recommended to grow Queen Anne’s Lace from seeds, since that is how the plants has evolved to grow and easily proliferates from this method.

The Best Growing Conditions for Bishop’s Lace

The Queen Anne’s Lace is a great plant to grow in most conditions, but there are some aspects to consider when thinking about soil types, sunlight needs, and watering needs.

Soil

The right soil for the Bishop’s Lace varies since they can grow in a range of environments. It isn’t uncommon for you to find wild carrots growing out of gravelly or sandy soil, and they are commonly found in disturbed places.⁵

The wild carrot thrives in soil that is nutrient deficient and has a neutral or low pH. You should get great results if you plant it in dry soil with good drainage.

Excessive moisture is typically a risk since it can lead to crown rot.

Sunlight

How much sunlight does Bishop’s Lace need each day? Sunlight is where the Queen Anne’s Lace is needy, since it requires full sun throughout the day.

You will often see these plants in the middle of open fields where they can get a lot of sun. You should plant them in an area where they can get 6 or more hours of direct sunlight,² and will benefit from partial shade as well in the afternoon.

Water

Watering needs for Bishop’s Lace plants are minimal, and are drought resistant. It thrives in drier soil and once it has surpassed its seedling phase, it will no longer require much watering.

This makes it an easy plant to care for once it is up and running.

What Is the Best Bishop’s Lace Growing Zone?

In order to properly grow this biennial, you will have to consider the proper growing zones for Bishop’s Lace. Where to grow Queen Anne’s Lace depends on your own preferences since it remains hardy in extreme temperatures.

It can grow in hardiness zones 4a – 11b, which means the lowest temperature it can survive in is -30ºF to 50ºF (-34.4ºC to 10ºC).⁶

(Image: beauty_of_nature²⁸)

This wide range of temperatures makes it a candidate for growth in the majority of the U.S. and is why it is such a successful invasive species.

An important aspect to consider is also how far apart to plant Bishop’s Lace, especially since it can be invasive to an area and cause various issues concerning the soil around other plants in your home garden or landscape.

They have a deep taproot and root system so it’s important to give them room. We suggest planting them at least 12” from other wild carrots and other plants to be on the safe side.⁴

What Is the Average Bishop’s Lace Growth Rate?

How long it takes to grow Bishop’s Lace is standard regardless of where you grow it. The Queen Anne’s Lace is a Biennial, so it takes two years for it to complete its full life cycle, and you will not see its beautiful umbels of flowers until the second year of growth.

The first year is devoted to the growth of its taproot (the carrot). In that year the plant develops a root system and also its stalk in order to establish a source of nutrients from the ground and a method of capturing sunlight.

In the second year, the flowers will bloom, typically in the summer (June to August). In late summer they will seed, releasing tumbleweeds of seeds, and die.⁷

If you want to keep them in your garden, you can prepare more seedlings and plant them every year to keep them present in your garden.

Watch Out! It’s an Invasive Species

Yes, of course you want the beautiful flowers of the Queen Anne’s Lace decorating your garden and landscape, welcoming all of the wonderful species of friendly pollinators, but beware. Once an invasive species, always an invasive species.

If you want to ensure that your garden or landscape doesn’t become a hotbed for wild carrots there is a simple solution. The flower heads of the plant typically begin to seed in late summer so you can simply snip off the flower heads before that happens.⁸

The flower heads typically curl up into a bird’s nest before eventually detaching and being blown by the wind to disperse the seeds so you will be able to tell when you have to do some snipping.

If you are too late and the plants have dispersed, you can treat them like weeds and pull them out of your garden. Keep in mind, the taproots are deep, and since they develop in the first year, you won’t want to wait too long.

The Best Companion Plants for Growing Bishop’s Lace in Your Garden

Queen Anne’s Lace makes for a great companion plant for your garden or landscape depending on what you are growing and the area you are growing it in. The wild carrot flower attracts different types of bees and types of butterflies as well as parasitic wasps that help deal with pests.

(Image: katerinavulcova³⁰)

These are beneficial to the growth of tomato plants and lettuce when planted nearby since they create a cooler and more moist microclimate.⁹ Keep in mind, the wild carrot is considered a noxious weed in some states especially in newly restored prairies where they are known to completely take over.

Tips for How To Stop Bishop’s Lace Disease

Both Queen Anne’s Lace and Bishop’s Flower aren’t threatened by any particular diseases, and are a worry-free addition to a garden or landscape. In general, to prevent diseases such as crown rot or the growth of various molds, you want to ensure that you aren’t overwatering your soil.

If there is anything to be concerned about when it comes to Queen Anne’s Lace, it is pest control, which even still is not as grave a concern as with other plants.

The Best Pest Control for Queen Anne’s Lace

In general, Queen Anne’s Lace isn’t in danger of many pests, and actually is a benefit to your garden since it entices bees, butterflies, and parasitic wasps that can dispatch pests. However, some common pests of the Bishop’s Lace include the carrot seed moth, carrot beetle, and Black Swallowtail butterfly larvae.¹⁰

The bugs feed on the roots and stems of the wild carrot

Both the carrot seed moth and Black Swallowtail butterfly will feed on Queen Anne’s Lace, and other plants from the carrot and parsley families, when they are in their larval stage. The carrot seed moth, especially, is destructive to the flowers,¹¹ but will also consume seeds.

Carrot Moth and Black Swallowtail Prevention

It’s common to find caterpillars munching on these plants if you have them in your garden. In this case a natural pest control for Bishop’s Lace is to periodically go through the plants and pluck the caterpillars off, relocating them to a further location.

You can also just use your hose to spray them off. One other natural way to keep these caterpillars off is with vinegar spray.

Mixing vinegar and water and spraying it on plants can keep caterpillars away. It’s important to keep the vinegar level low to prevent any change to the soil pH, which can greatly affect how well specific plants grow.

If you notice smaller pests such as Aphids, mites, or thrips on your plants, you can use a soapy water spray.¹²

Another way to protect your plants from caterpillars is by growing mugwort, sage, lavender, or peppermint nearby. These pungent herbs keep caterpillars away.

Ensure you don’t grow the mint in your garden as they can be spread aggressively. Some people will grow Queen Anne’s Lace and similar plants in order to attract the Black Swallowtails, which will lay their eggs on the plants.

Carrot Beetle Prevention

The Carrot Beetle commonly feeds on plants from the carrot and parsley families. One natural way to keep them away is to install insect netting which prevents the larger flying insects from gaining access to your plants.

In general the carrot beetle isn’t much of a problem. The best thing to do is to think about adding plants that will boost your garden’s population of beneficial insects; you want 5 to 10% of your garden to be made of plants that serve to bring in these insects.¹³

Since Bishop’s Lace attracts beneficial insects, you can count those as part of your 5 to 10%!

Tips for How To Identify Bishop’s Lace

The Bishop’s Lace is defined by its small types of white flowers, which come in clusters of the thousands, but this single marker can also make it easily confused for multiple imposters that are not only similar in physical characteristics, but are also deadly compared to Queen Anne’s Lace.

It’s crucial that you properly identify this plant if you plan on consuming it, growing it in your garden, or introducing it into your landscape gardening.

(Seedhead Image: Cbaile19²⁷)

Queen Anne’s Lace can grow to be 4 feet tall, but usually range between 2 and 4 feet in height. The stem is hairy and green – it’s important to remember that the stem of the Queen Anne’s Lace is completely green with no other colors.

Identifying Bishop’s Lace Leaves

The wild carrot leaves are divided in a pinnate fashion,¹⁴ meaning that it divides into smaller leaves. They are lacy and feathery, increasing in size as you go down the stem, and they arrange themselves in an alternating pattern, and usually grow 2 to 6 inches in length.¹⁵

These leaves also have a fern-like appearance and smell like carrots when damaged.

Because this plant is in the carrot/parsley family, the leaves appear very similar to the parsley plant. They are edible in small amounts, but eaten excessively can cause nausea and vomiting.

It’s also important to note that they can cause contact dermatitis, and can easily be confused with more poisonous look-alikes.

Identifying the Bishop’s Lace Flower

The flower of this plant can lead you to the misidentification of its more poisonous look-alikes. The flowers of the wild carrot present themselves in large umbels that can contain thousands of small flowers.

When mature, these flowers curl up to form into a bird’s nest formation,¹⁶ but while young they will create an umbel with the appearance of a flat surface.¹

These flowers are a majority white and in the center of the formation you will find red or purple flowers. They have a lacy appearance and individual flowers contain five stamen and have five petals.¹⁷

The umbel itself can measure 2 to 4 inches in diameter while underneath it are bracts that are feathery and similar to leaves.⁵

Identifying Bishop’s Lace Seeds

Queen Anne’s Lace seeds measure less than an inch in length and width with a brownish or copperish color in an oval shape.¹⁴ They are covered with protective hairs and barbs on one side and a smooth flat surface on the other.²

The barbs allow them to cling to animals in order to spread to new environments. The wild carrot plant can produce anywhere between 1,000 and 40,000 seeds, which is why it can proliferate through fields and other landscapes.

What also aids in its spread is how the umbel of the flowers curves inward with age, drying up to create tumbleweeds, which are easily blown by the wind to allow for further dispersal.

Identifying the Taproot of the Queen Anne’s Lace

The wild carrot does indeed have an edible taproot. It presents as an heirloom carrot since it doesn’t have the same color as the orange carrot you are familiar with.

The taproot of the Queen Anne’s Lace is white and edible raw or cooked.¹⁸

Identifying It’s Imposters

Queen Anne’s Lace has multiple imposters, many of which are poisonous so it’s crucial to properly identify them. The main areas that seem similar at first glance are the flowers and leaves.

(Image: dference³¹)

Since many of the look-alikes come from the same family, Apiaceae, which include carrots, celery, and parsley. This means their leaves can be very similar.

Identifying False Queen Anne’s Lace, Ammi majus, or Bishop Flower

Bishop’s flower is the most common misidentification when it comes to the Queen Anne’s Lace especially since they are part of the same family, Apiaceae. However, there shouldn’t be much fear around identifying them.

False Queen Anne’s Lace is another popular garden and landscape gardening plant, because it has similar flowers that are aesthetically pleasing.

The Bishop’s Flower has thicker stems than the Bishop’s Lace and grows taller on average, between 3 and 6 ft. Like the Queen Anne’s Lace, the Bishop’s Flower has umbels of flowers, but the Bishop’s Flower has flowers that can be white or green.¹⁹

Both also have low severity poison characteristics.²⁰

Other Look-Alikes

It’s common to confuse the Bishop’s Lace with Poison Hemlock, Spotted Water Hemlock, Sweet Cicely, and Erect and Spreading hedge Parsley.²¹ Poison Hemlock grows taller than Queen Anne’s Lace, usually 3 ft to 8 ft tall and there are purple splotches on the stems.

It’s important that you properly identify this plant since Poison hemlock is indeed poisonous and you cannot eat any part of it.

The Spotted Water Hemlock is considered one of the most poisonous plant in North America and the main difference is that the leaves of the Spotted Water Hemlock are not as finely divided as the Bishop’s Lace.²² The Sweet Cicely is generally smaller than Queen Anne’s Lace, less than 2 feet tall, and the clusters of flowers are much smaller, usually coming in numbers of 4 to 7.

Besides the other look-alikes, all parts of the sweet cicely are edible.

Underneath the umbels of the Erect and Spreading Hedge Parsley you will find small bracts as opposed to the Bishop’s Lace, which has showy bracts. The root can be eaten raw when peeled and the leaves can be eaten when cooked.

Queen Anne’s Lace Edibility and Usage

In addition to being an ornamental flower and an attractor of beneficial pollinators, the Queen Anne’s Lace is completely edible. The taproot is a pale carrot that can be eaten raw or cooked and has a similar taste to a carrot.

(Image: Kev (TheOtherKev)²⁵)

They can be cooked in stews or roasted. The roots have also been dried and ground down into a powder that is often brewed similar to coffee.²³

It is recommended that you eat the root in its first year, since as it matures it can become hard and woody.

The flowers of the plant can also be used in salads and eaten raw, but they are also battered and fried. The leaves are edible, however, they can cause skin irritation and photosensitivity in some people so it’s important to test it before ingesting it.²⁴

You can use the leaves as an herb, putting them in stews, much like their relative, parsley.

The seeds of the plants have also been used for various ailments in the past. One of its most notable usages was to prevent pregnancy.

We do not recommend using it as a contraceptive, and pregnant women or women that are breastfeeding should avoid ingesting Bishop’s Lace due to these capabilities.²⁴ Native Americans had also used Bishop’s Lace to treat skin conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bishop’s Lace