fennel
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.
Posted by Bill Hopkins on July 2, 2003 05:33 PMHave you tried growing anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)? The leaves are very aromatic of licorice and make a great tea, especially combined with green or black tea and iced.
Posted by: Kathy at July 3, 2003 05:59 AMNo, I haven't tried that. Thanks for the tip.
Posted by: BH at July 3, 2003 06:30 PMYou should consider joining the Ecotone "Bloggers of Place" movement. Link on my page.
Posted by: Joel at July 4, 2003 03:13 AM