Fennel

Today's the day ………………………… to leave

Fennel is a very useful herb to have in your garden.

This is the perennial kind - known as leaf fennel or sweet fennel - and is grown for its aromatic, aniseed-flavoured feathery leaves and its seeds, both of which are used to flavour dishes.  It appears every year without fail and without me having to do anything to ensure that it does.  It also seeds itself into flower beds and borders but as the foliage is very attractive and ornamental, it looks great in there too.

If you let it grow to its full size, it's a very tall statuesque plant.  The big yellow, umbrella-like flower heads eventually fade to leave the seeds as above.  I suppose I should have cut them all back so that I could harvest the seeds - but I just like to leave them as they are.

There's nothing nicer than fennel against a blue sky ……………………...