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.