Hello I' interested in bronze fenneel and moonflower vine. We just moved and I had to dig and move what I could from my garden and they didn't bloom well so I don't have seed to trade but I have new plastic seed baggies, I could send you 40 for the 2 trades of seeds. Michelle

wow, my thanks to everyone for all of this helpful information. What I wasn't very clear about is that the floppy fennel is recently purchased and is floppy in it's little 4 inch pot. This thread just goes to show that one size doesn't fit all. We each have unique growing sites and conditions. After reading through all the great growing tips, I think I'm going to try two different growing spots this year and see how it does this summer. One spot I've decided to try the green fennel in is next to the Rosemary. It's in a protected raised bed, gets morning sun and high shade during the middle of the day. I worked up the soil real good and will mulch the plant with decaying leaves. This should help the roots stay cool and hopefully keep me from overwatering! The other spot will get more sun so it will give me a chance to see how each growing area performs. I do have other food for the BST cats; lots of Italian giant flat leaf parsley, curley parsley and several plants of Rue. They all overwintered well in our very severe recent winter weather and the Rue is beginning to bloom now. So I've got backup food in case I need it. I tried Dill last year and it died an immediate death so figured I'd not waste my time on that again. This is such a fantastic forum. Thank you all so much for sharing your fennel growing experiences with me. I'll report back and let everyone know how the experiment turned out. Mary

Well there won't be a butterfly - It must've been parasitized. There were three tiny capsules on the bottom of the container and the chrysalis was empty. : ( Does anyone recognize this weed? I found two cats on it that look very much like the one in the photo above but smaller. I will post in the Name That Plant forum if no one knows. It's very small. The little flat seeds on it are about the size of the head of a pin or slightly larger and you can barely see the flowers. I've had a lot of this in my flower beds and have been pulling it.

Thanks, Terrene. I sowed Mammoth Dill (Valueseeds) in spring but it didn't do more than a single sprig. I bought a six pack of florence fennel from a farm stand and that's what I raised the BSTs on. Actually, I think the eggs may have been on the fennel when I bought it. Next spring I know to look at the fennel six packs for eggs and get all those plants particularly since they finished the fennel before it had a chance to mature much. It regrew some but too late for more eggs to be laid. I raised the BSTs outside in a pop up mesh laundry hamper on my father's deck. Fit 3 florence fennel plants right in there with cats on them. Laid out clean paper towel over plant containers and hamper floor so I could clean out the frass every day. I did have to make sure they were protected from too much direct sun and rain for a few weeks. Since they were all the same size there wasn't any cannibalization problem and there were only 4 of them. I just love the swallowtails and look forward to having more of them next year...BST and hoping for Eastern Tiger cats next year. The Tigers may be overwintering in rolled leaves from the flowering cherry tree in my father's front yard since I saw so many males this summer. May have to get more pop up mesh hampers. BSTs seemed easier to raise than the Monarchs which I raised inside. I had separate Glad containers for different size cats so the smaller ones wouldn't get eaten. I never saw the mama(s) laying eggs which must have happened more than once since there were so many different size instars by the time I found them on Milkweed. I felt badly raising them indoors in plastic containers without fresh air and sunlight...didn't seem like a natural life for the cats. Everyone thinks I'm nuts for thinking the cats care one bit about where they are as long as they get enough food and they're probably right. The point was to add to the reproductive Monarch population because they're endangered and that was successful but I'll try to rig up an enclosure for them outside on the deck. A little nursery with different sections for various cat instars. I figure family who didn't particularly like the cat containers on the kitchen table (to get a little sunlight) should like having them on the deck as opposed to where they eat even though they whine about my taking over the deck with nectar/host plants. I read somewhere that you can put netting around the Bronze Fennel once you see cats on it so they're protected through pupation. Guess you have to check it daily once some start to pupate to allow for release after eclosure. Also guess you need multiple host plants to provide places for more eggs to be laid. So much to do before next spring...LOL.