I'm not sure why you're shocked that people want to plant this weed. I'm actually quite jealous you have such an established lot of it growing! I realize you probably aren't interested in it's medicinal properties, but it's quite the herb! Perhaps if you weren't already aware, maybe now you'll have a better appreciation of it and a possible use for it. If not, well then at least you know why people like myself would want to grow it. I have struggled with trying to find natural alternatives for birth control (the synthetic hormones in the pill have very serious side effects) and am happy to have finally found something viable. I hope it becomes less of a nightmare for you either way. I can understand how unwanted plants in the garden can bring unrivaled amounts of stress! Cheers! Meg The wild carrot is an aromatic herb that acts as a diuretic, soothes the digestive tract and stimulates the uterus. A wonderfully cleansing medicine, it supports the liver, stimulates the flow of urine and the removal of waste by the kidneys. An infusion is used in the treatment of various complaints including digestive disorders, kidney and bladder diseases and in the treatment of dropsy. An infusion of the leaves has been used to counter cystitis and kidney stone formation, and to diminish stones that have already formed. Carrot leaves contain significant amounts of porphyrins, which stimulate the pituitary gland and lead to the release of increased levels of sex hormones. The plant is harvested in July and dried for later use. A warm water infusion of the flowers has been used in the treatment of diabetes. The grated raw root, especially of the cultivated forms, is used as a remedy for threadworms. The root is also used to encourage delayed menstruation. The root of the wild plant can induce uterine contractions and so should not be used by pregnant women. An infusion is used in the treatment of oedema, flatulent indigestion and menstrual problems. The seed is a traditional 'morning after' contraceptive and there is some evidence to uphold this belief. It requires further investigation. Carrot seeds can be abortifacient and so should not be used by pregnant women. Ancient folk lore said that to cure epileptic seizures you should eat the dark coloured middle flower of Queen Annes Lace. The flower is also used in ancient rituals an spells, for women to increase fertility and for men to increase potency and sexual desire! Here is a link that might be useful: The Wild Carrot - Queen Annes Lace

if QAL is a biennial primarily and u had a lot of it flowering the first year after prep work, u see my problem? and now u say u have a goldenrod coming up only 2 years after prep work. i would postulate on a reason for ur situation this way; rototilling did a total soil distruption and chopped up agressive perennials and others roots and stems and rhizomes, etc into a thick biological soup. u then proceded to kill off annuals and perennials with ur apps of round up thruout the growing season. but what may also have happened is that u mix'ed it up too strong and only topkilled some of the stronger and harder to kill longer lived plants vs easily killing shorter to live annuals (and their offspring cuz their annuals) that were easily rounded up. there is also the simple fact that one season of roundup sometimes just plainly doesnt do the trick on many spp. what remains is QAL and other 'stronger' plants. and this is where my original question comes up about what else is lurking there... as to ur comment before about taking out the goldenrod with round up. how and when did u go about doing that? because, not only have u killed that little area of goldenrod (if ur lucky, u killed it...) but u prolly also killed many of the little seedings that are trying to eek out a living under the cover of larger plants; ie ur seeded prairie seedlings. my suggestion is to make sure that u spray the goldenrod whilst in flower with a very fine 1.5% solution on a calm morning after the freeze date or just as the goldenrod is in full hight of flowering. after freeze date is less agressive and full flowering is a more agressive treatment. and as one moves up the agressive scale, one also moves up the side effects of the treatment. thats why i say that one has to pick their battles wisely, because many times the treatment is causing more harm than the surface disease. i would also re-seed these treated areas with the faster growing pioneering plants. because chances are better than not that all that is gonna come up after a spot treatment of a complete killer like round up is more bad stuff because u have already seen what is already in the soil and u have just sprayed away ur 2year old seedlings. round up kills green but not seeds, roots and other would be nastyies. nature abhors a vacuum and sumthing is gonna grow there...if u have 30 years of weed seeds and roots and others vs 1 seeding of prairie that takes 10+yrs to get moving... froggy

Now 77 years old and now diabetic 2 (but I can eat fruit and I do have a lot of fruit). Waiting 2 more weeks before I start indoor grow light seeds, winter sowing seeds, salad seeds in heated mini greenhouse. Replaced mini greenhouse by myself and covered edges with many rolls of UV film. Sprayed chairs and ornaments with UV spray. Sprayed rusting items like dog pen for blueberries and metal ornaments with WD40. Chairs must have 2-3 bricks on them to keep them from blowing down in the wind. Laid black plastic film to replace so called landscape fabric that loves weeds. Poly film and clover are great aides to prevent weeds. I have a giant leaf blower and shredder that is now hard to lift - so I got a light weight leaf blower and blew away most of the oak leaves and nuts near the back of the house and the wind moved more for me. In spring my ex son in law will trim the too tall again so-called dwarf apricot and plum trees for me with my new electric chain pole saw. The peaches, nectarines, and mini apples are short enough. I have watering lines for sprayers and emitters and use timers. I laid out a hose line with switches from the center sprinkler so I could hand water if needed (2 times so far after water lines drained for winter) and to spray the fruit trees - now both are super easy jobs. It now takes less than 5 minutes to spray the 14 fruit trees using a hand sprayer (wonderful invention) - hah!. I also have a mister in case I overheat in the summer. I will have to prune the brambles and remove dead food crops from tubs later - but that is easy with a hand pruner. I have large trash cans with drainage slits placed at every end of the back yard for yard and garden debris until they either compost or go into the trash. Planting food crops in tubs is so easy and so is picking them. Back yard getting really gorgeous all year long. Have colored chairs, colored tubs, colored and white solar lights (getting more this week), colored and green foliage (dwarf conifers, some evergreen sedums, strawberries/blueberries/brambles turning color - earlier EAC was vivid red). I have solar and non-solar ornaments with more coming this week. I even recently added fake flowers for some tubs - crazy but it looks good this winter. Front yard dwarf japanese maples and azaleas turning color. The 2 giant oaks dropped their nuts and leaves again but not as bad as in previous years. The city just added a sidewalk so that is less area to take care off. In spring I will have lots of bulbs and flowering bushes and trees. In summer I will have food crops and flowers. In fall I will have food crops, flowers, and fall foliage. In winter dwarf conifers, sedums, and food crops in the GH. Life is good and gardening is now super easy. I find it hard to believe what I used to do when i was in my 20s - like try to garden in clay in the country and carry water from a creek a long distance away.

"now do you have an opinion as to whether there is such a thing as drapes that are too long" Um, heck yeah? ;-) I detest the puddled thing, to me it looks sloppy, like someone was too lazy to hem their curtains to the proper length, although other people think it's a very luxurious look. ajsmama is also 100% right about the dust bunnies! Pets have also been known to "nest" in the fabric that's on the floor. I've seen dense, heavy laces (the cotton laces do tend to be weightier than the polyesters) puddled, and it does look rather better than the really lightweight sort, but I still don't think it's practical or attractive. Me, I like long WTs to stop about half an inch to an inch from the floor so they don't catch as many dust bunnies and you can vacuum without fussing with the curtains, but I'm also willing to compromise aesthetics a bit for practicality. With the very complex laces with a lot of bottom detailing, an inside-mounted sill length, which many people think of as being an informal style, can still look quite formal because the lace is so intricate. Just for pity's sake don't use tension rods. Use an inside-mount barrel-bracket rod instead. Here's a picture of one style and of another. The visible-screw ones are cheaper from annwallace.com, just the pics on that site kinda stink. IMO inside mounting something longer than sill length looks sloppy where it flops over the sill. If you want to go long, whether you go 84" or 95" depends on where you want to put your rods. If you want to do a casing mount or wall mount parallel to the top of the casing, measure from the top of the casing to the floor to get the correct length. I don't like to see a lot of wall between the rod and the window casing, so IMO the "put rod up near ceiling to emphasize room height" routine only really works with a WT that's going to conceal that area, and lace usually isn't dense enough to do so. I'd rather have curtains hemmed to the right length than place my rods based only on a stock WT size. (Remember that most laces are hemmed from the TOP by removing the stitches creating the preexisting rod pocket and sewing either a new pocket or a hem for hanging from rings. Sewn-on rings look MUCH better in a formal setting than clip-on!) I also don't like those clear plastic "lace curtain" rods, I think they look tacky. Use a good quality brass or wooden rod (very traditional) or a finish that matches lighting fixtures, door hardware and suchlike other metals in the room.