Bronze Fennel

Bronze fennel is the ornamental form of common fennel, the same anise flavour as green fennel but with feathery bronze-purple foliage that looks extraordinary in the garden and in arrangements. All parts are usable: fronds as a herb, seeds as a spice, and the pollen as a finishing ingredient. The tall flat-topped yellow flower heads attract beneficial insects, and the plant is a host for swallowtail caterpillars, which can strip a plant and leave it to regrow.

Do not plant it near dill; they cross-pollinate and both lose their flavour. It self-seeds prolifically and can become weedy, so deadhead before the seeds disperse if you want to control its spread. Fennel also suppresses the growth of many vegetables around it and is best kept out of the kitchen beds.

It is a perennial in zones 4 to 9, reaching 4 to 6 feet in full sun and poor, well-drained soil, and it needs no water once established. Cut it to the ground in late fall or early spring; the new fronds come up darkest. Deer leave it alone.