Bishop's Lace Flower is a beloved open-pollinated annual that brings delicate, airy elegance to summer gardens across zones 3 and warmer. Reaching a neat three feet tall with finely cut, feathery foliage, it produces intricate snow-white blossoms that float like lacy disks, each four to six inches across. The flowers emerge in just 65 days from seed, making it a reliable choice for gardeners who want that wild, romantic quality without the mess of its wild cousin, Queen Anne's Lace. Plant in full sun spaced 8 inches apart, and you'll have long, graceful stems perfect for cutting and arranging in just over two months.
Full Sun
Moderate
3-3
36in H x 12in W
—
High
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The flowers themselves are the star here: perfect white disks with an intricate, delicate structure that photographs beautifully and adds genuine charm to borders and bouquets. Unlike the wild Queen Anne's Lace, this superior strain has been selected specifically for more perfectly formed flower heads and stems that stay tall and graceful rather than sprawling. The feathery foliage is fine and ornamental in its own right, creating an airy backdrop that softens garden beds before the flowers even arrive.
Bishop's Lace Flower exists primarily for its ornamental value. The long, three-foot stems with their pristine white lacy flowers are cut for fresh arrangements, where they bring an airy, sophisticated quality to bouquets. In the garden, they're used to soften borders and beds, adding a wild, romantic texture that works especially well in cottage gardens and naturalistic plantings. The delicate foliage and flowers create visual interest without heaviness, making them valuable for loosening up more structured garden designs.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Sow seeds directly into the garden after the last frost date for your zone, as this annual develops quickly with minimal fuss.
Cut flowers when the lacy white disk blooms have fully opened but are still pristine and unmarked, typically 65 days from sowing. Cut stems early in the morning when they're most turgid, using sharp shears and taking stems as long as possible. The flowers will continue opening along the stem once cut, so harvest in the bud stage if you want them to develop further in a vase. Change water every few days and remove any foliage that would sit below the waterline to extend vase life.
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“This is an old-fashioned variety with deep roots in garden tradition. It shares ancestry with the wild Queen Anne's Lace, a plant woven through European folklore and garden history, but Bishop's Lace Flower represents generations of selection for the qualities gardeners actually want: more perfect flower formation, longer stems, and a tidier overall plant. Seed companies like Hudson Valley Seed have kept this heirloom alive as gardeners rediscovered its romantic appeal in contemporary gardens seeking that wild, unfussy aesthetic.”