- Perennial green leaf
- Herb
- Food forest
- Bees and butterflies
- Edible flowers
- Edimentals
- Medicinal
Bronze fennel
Foeniculum vulgares 'Purpureum'
Beautiful ornamental and culinary herb popular with pollinating insects.
PLANT TYPE Herb
PLANT HABIT Perennial
USES Culinary, Medicinal, Pollinators, Ornamental
DESCRIPTION
Beautiful ornamental and culinary herb popular with pollinating insects.
A sub variety of wild native fennel that forms a clump of stems up to 2m tall that die back in autumn and re-sprout from the base each spring. Easy to grow, hardy and drought tolerant, and needs virtually no maintenance once established. It likes free-draining soil and full sun.
Bronze fennel leaves, flowers and seeds are all edible and have an aniseed flavour. They can be infused to make tea, added to salads or used in cooking. Harvest sprigs of young leaves as required from early summer to autumn. Bronze Fennel seeds are valued for having a milder, more delicate taste than other fennel varieties.
RECOMMENDED LOCATION Kitchen garden, Forest garden, Wildlife garden, Ornamental garden
Aspect Full sun, Moist full sun, Dry full sun
Height Established plants grow to 1.5-2.5m
Spread 0.5-1m
Hardiness Hardy in the UK
Management and care Cut back dead stems in autumn or winter. Remove faded flowers if you wish to prevent self-seeding.
Origin/history
Bronze fennel is native to Great Britain and Ireland.
