The most dramatic and thrilling plant here right now is probably wild fennel, which is about 4 or 5 feet tall along almost every rural roadside. it is a potent symbol of this place, and in our case, a potent reminder that we are no longer in minnesota. but it has competition for most common and striking roadside plant. the challenger is this “carotte sauvage,” which displays a mass of white flowers while it blooms, and a complicated broom head of seeds afterwards, and which is, in fact, the very familiar queen anne’s lace. unlike fennel, it grows along almost every minnesota highway in summer, the only difference being that in minnesota it rarely if ever looks out over rolling hills of vines.

carrotte sauvage (daucus carota)

autignac, languedoc, france

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