Queen Anne's Lace debut

If you ever needed reassurance that we're truly into high summer, look no further than the flowering of the Queen Anne's Lace. This exquisite and utterly common wildling blooms beginning in early July, and this year, it's coming into glory just as the similar-appearing elderberry umbels are fading away. Daucus carota, as it's known to scientists, is the same species as our domesticated carrot, and if you don't believe me, plant a carrot and watch it grow. Next year, when the plant blooms, you won't be able to tell the difference between it and the myriad "Queens" adorning the fields and roadsides. Alas, you can't eat the wild plant's roots, which are white, except when they're very, very young, and you have to be a little careful touching the leaves, because in sensitive people, so doing can make them temporarily more prone to a nasty sunburn-like condition called phytophotodermatitis. Given my sun-sensitivity, I'll enjoy D. carota from a distance, getting just close enough, with a telephoto lens, to find the one dark flower amidst the sea of white that is said to represent a spot of blood from Anne's finger: a needle prick from her knitting. In this view, of course, you can't see the dark spot. We'll focus on that later.