Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a fun plant to add to your garden. If you are not familiar with it you might be surprised to learn that it gets to be six feet tall.

Personally I happen to enjoy the licorice-like taste of fennel. I even brush my teeth with fennel-flavored toothpaste. So it’s convenient to have these seeds right at eye level so I can pick a few and chew on them as I stroll through the garden. A few years ago Tricia made a soup using the bulb which was pretty tasty also.

Black swallowtail caterpillars appear to like them too as the fennel plant never fails to produce a crop of them. I counted five this afternoon.

The seeds are poisonous to many insects which makes fennel handy to keep insects away from a part of your garden where they have been a bother. You can cut up the stems and foliage and spread them as a mulch to keep snails away.