Antares Hybrid Fennel Seeds

Improved in Every Way from All Other Varieties!
Swallowtail caterpillars depend on this plant as a food source!
Genus: Foeniculum
Species: vulgare
Variety: Antares Hybrid
Item Form: (P) Pkt of 50 seeds
Bloom Start to End: Mid Spring – Mid Fall
Days to Maturity: 58
Fruit Color: White
Habit: Upright
Seeds Per Pack: 50
Plant Height: 15 in – 24 in
Plant Width: 6 in – 9 in
Additional Characteristics: Award Winner, Butterfly Lovers, Easy Care Plants, Edible, Flower, Fragrance, Herbs, Pest Fighter
Bloom Color: White
Foliage Color: Dark Green
Harvest Season: Early Summer, Late Summer, Mid Summer
Light Requirements: Full Sun
Moisture Requirements: Moist,  well-drained
Resistance: Disease Resistant, Heat Tolerant, Humidity Tolerant, Pest Resistant
Soil Tolerance: Normal,  loamy
Uses: Beds, Containers, Cuisine, Foliage Interest, Ornamental, Outdoor

58 days from setting out transplants.

We are delighted to offer the first-ever fennel seed to win an All-America Selection! Antares Hybrid is so improved in every way that it might as well be a new type of plant. Stronger licorice fragrance, sweeter bulb, more ornamental ferny dark green foliage, earlier maturity, better bolt resistance — these are just the highlights of Antares’s many merits!

Ready less than 2 months after setting out the transplants in spring, this fabulous herb doubles as a vegetable (the white bulb is sweet and absolutely delicious) and triples as an ornamental (the ferny foliage is splendid in the garden, container, and indoor arrangements). Superbly fragrant, easy to grow, this sun lover thrives anywhere you have a few inches of sunny soil. You will want to tuck it into annual container plantings (petunia, calibrachoa, geranium, and verbena are among its many friends), dot it among your tomatoes and peppers to bring in good bugs and repel bad, and use it as a green backdrop to just about anything in the sunny annual border.

Antares Hybrid harvests earlier than older varieties, and also resists bolting a whole lot better. If you want to grow this plant for its sweet, aromatic, nutritious 4- to 5-inch white bulb, you can get there sooner than ever — and leave it in the garden a bit longer, too, if you can’t harvest it promptly!

Many gardeners grow fennel for its swallowtail butterfly food. During the caterpillar stage, swallowtails rely on fennel as a food source, and if you are willing to let them do a bit of chewing, the butterflies will reward you with their beautiful presence in your garden! Antares attracts many pollinators (it sets seed, after all), but the swallowtails are its special companions. Make it an integral part of any butterfly accent garden in your landscape.

All parts of fennel are aromatic, imparting a sweet anise, or licorice, scent and flavor. Kids (or adults) who like black licorice will love chomping on the raw bulbs of fennel! Growing 15 to 24 inches tall and just about 9 inches wide, Antares is an elegant columnar ornamental plant in the annual bed as well as a delicious edible.

Start seeds indoors and transplant the young plants into rich, light soil in a warm location. Water regularly throughout the season to help the large, round bulb develop well. Pkt is 50 seeds.