Fabulous Fennel – how to grow Foeniculum vulgare ‘Bronze’

Charles rules the ex Veg Plot at the Veddw. (It hasn’t been a Veg Plot for over 15 years but the name is horribly stubborn)

This is a follow on from cardoons, as Charles grows dozens of those for a dramatic display here. But he has habitually complained about the way bronze fennel is seeding around his domain. He’s always a bit anxious that things may get out of control. Then, huzzah, Marianne visited and spent ten minutes proclaiming the joy that fennel was bringing to the plot. 

And Charles relented – though I don’t imagine he’s going to leave the ones growing in the path.

I agree that the fennel adds to the Veg Plot, and I love it elsewhere too. I think people complain it seeds too much, but everything is too much here and it doesn’t get that much chance to exceed.

This post is just about how beautiful it is.

Not about eating it, though you can, and this isn’t the fat white crisp bulb I’m talking about, but the wispy browny one, grown for its top: Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’.

And this is not really much about how to grow it. Once you have it, it does that by itself. There is the ordinary one to consider, but I have not yet managed to get that going. Here is a current attempt – will it survive?

The bronze one, as Marianne no doubt pointed out, provides a good contrast to flowery plants.

And, in the Veg Plot to the grey or silver foliage of the cardoon. Or a hosta. Or a compost heap disguised as a huge beehive. (Made by Charles) And it looks great in bud:

But, strangely, the time I start to really notice and enjoy it is now. (August) When it flowers. Suddenly I’m taking photos of it, a sure sign that I’m loving something. Though weirdly, I discovered that at Dixter they consider they have gone over : “The knapweeds, geraniums, bronze fennel and ox eye daisies are rapidly going over”. In July!

But here, it is beautiful.

You must have something that will sit beautifully with that soft yellow – it’s at about my height, 5 foot 2 inches.

Japanese anemones are good – above, and below:

And something magic happens in late afternoon light –

But then, browsing on the web, I discover it has been improved.

This is one of the curses of gardening over a long time. People make better versions of plants you have that are well established in the garden. Doh! Beth Chatto has a bronze fennel called Smokey,  which looks very dark. I can find nothing definitive about it though. 

However, there is also apparently, now, a really bigger and better one! Nick Macer, a nursery man growing things not far from me and who is definitely to be relied upon, advertises Giant Bronze: “A selected form from Piet Oudolf. This comes true from seed and produces plants of a very dark and dusky charcoal-bronze. Typical yellow, flat umbels of flower on strongly upright 1.8m stems. Easy and very hardy in most soils in sun. Very drought tolerant, fragrant when rubbed/crushed and edible.”

So, I have to have that one, don’t I?