Friday 16 August 2013

Plant of the Moment – No.11 Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum'



The thousands of individual mustard-yellow flowers in our modest stand of Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum), that classic late-summer umbellifer, are crawling with myriad flies, hoverflies and wasps, all out in the sun after a couple of dull, damp days. I love the aniseed smell of fennel and its bronzed, feathery foliage, which progressively shrivels and dries into what Carol Klein once referred to as "shaggy pubes" hanging from the purple-flushed, glaucous stems. Tidy-minded gardeners can peel these away, leaving smooth, blemish-free stems; a kind of botanical bikini-line waxing.





While admiring the insect bonanza on the fennel, we saw a Common Wall Lizard scuttle across the path and our first Migrant Hawker dragonfly of the season patrolling the borders. We were really happy to spot the lizard – having not seen any since last year, we were a bit worried that the run of poor summers and cold winters might have done for our little colony.

1 comment:

  1. We have acquired out of the blue a plant which I think is a wild fennel....same yellow flowers as in your article, very fine needle leaf smells like liquorice. Are there any poisonous versions that I could confuse it with please? Best wishes, Carol Lewis

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