Garden Source

The Fennel Bronze, ‘Foeniculum vulgare’, has stunningly beautiful, purple feathery plumes that provide a lacy contrast in the vegetable or flower garden. The Bronze Fennel is an absolutely dazzling, hard to find Fennel, that is used primarily for ornamental value and has tasty foliage and seeds. The tall feathery, smoky purple foliage provides a beautiful accent with pink and white roses or any other contrasting flower color. The Bronze Fennel attracts butterflies. The swallowtail butterfly lays eggs on fennel. The seed produced by the Bronze Fennell is used for flavoring cookies, breads, and cakes. Fresh leaves can be sprinkled on salads or used in salad dressings. Plant in the spring 2 weeks before the last average frost date. Fennel does best in well drained, sandy soils with lots of organic matter. They need to be kept moist.

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The Pepper Hot Asian Santaka, ‘Capsicum annuum (Hybrid)’, is the ideal pepper for Asian cooking. They are very hot and flavorful. The Santaka plant will bear up to 150 peppers in it’s lifetime. Even if just for the aesthetic value, you should grow this pepper. It is an attractive ornamental that produces white flowers and lots of various colored peppers at the same time from green to red. Santaka peppers are a must for Asian food; thinly sliced into stir-fry dishes, a hot eggplant dish, or makes a delicious hot slurry for many dishes. The peppers are 2 to 2. 5 inches long. Transplant outside in the spring 3 to 4 weeks after last frost date. Note: To get a jump on the season transplant outside, use a walls-of-water or some black plastic to maintain and increase temperatures. Pinch off early flowers to encourage plant growth. Plant in average garden soil with sufficient organic matter. Peppers use quite a bit of water but prefer to be watered deeply and not too often.

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