Wild carrot

The summer wildflowers are dominated, at least around here, by two varieties: wild chicory and wild carrot. The carrot is commonly called Queen Anne's lace in North America. I've read that poison hemlock, another European native, looks quite similar. I'm going to have to look closely to see if I can tell the difference during my walks. There seem to be several ombellifères (umbels) that grow wild around us. Well-known culinary umbels include celery, parsley, fennel, dill, coriander, and cumin.

Prolific wild carrot growing among the grape vines. It reminds me of the mustard that grows in California's Napa Valley vineyards.

This year the grape growers around us don't seem to be as aggressively cutting down the weeds and wildflowers that grow among the vines. There is some mowing between rows, and a little plowing, but there are more carrot and chicory plants out there this year than I think I've seen before. I know that many growers in our region have abandoned chemical herbicides in favor of more organic methods of weed control, but one of the bigger operations near us has still been using them. Maybe that's changing.