I've had one for years. The texture is very unusual and the bronze color is interesting. A nice contrast plant. It usually gets about 6-7 feet tall and the yellow flower heads are quite striking. It attracts yellow jackets like crazy. The buzz sound is cool and the yellow jackets don't bother you because they're so enamored with the plant. Plus, every year I find a Praying Mantis on it.

Only issue is self-seeding so while dead-heading is a good idea, pulling/weeding Fennel seedlings is kind-of nice because they smell so good when you pull them. :)

Caterpillars can go berserk on it if you're not watchful.

Karen

I love the texture, the color, the fragrance, the umbrels and the butterfly attraction. A very easy, no care plant that delivers a lot.

I wonder does anyone eat any of it? Use it in a recipe? Do you have to harvest the root, or use the leaves as an herb? Or is this not the culinary plant?

I grow it for the Black Swallowtails too. It is truly one of their most beautiful host plants! But they don't use it every year, so I grow about 6 or 7 of their host plants. :)

I also have a ton of the green ones. I feel like they make a nice airy foil around other perennials and annuals. The green doesn't overwinter well for me but it's a much more aggressive self sower. Some day I might get tired of that but for now it comes I handy as a free filler.

For ornamental purposes, it is great with orange flowers of asclepias tuberosa (milkweed), agastache rupestris, gaillardia, crocosmia, blackberry lily, coneflowers.

In fall, yellow bloomers such as goldenrod and susans look great with it.

Cameron

All parts of both bronze and green fennels are edible and go particularly well with fish. The dry stalks can go on a barbecue for fish or you can fill the fish with leaves. For cooking there is no difference between the bronze and the green. Seedlings from bronze often come up green. I have a clump in the corner of my vegetable garden which is probably about 20 years old now.