I grow both the bronze and the Florence. I also grow Rue which they consume just as readily as the fennel, and Zizia aptera as a back up, which they sometimes lay eggs on and eat when the fennels in the front yard are chewed down. Differentiating between the "varieties" of fennel is somewhat confusing because there is a lot of conflicting information floating around on the web. However, Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce is the most commonly grown fennel, and is used for its seeds, foliage, and the stalks (similar in texture and eaten like celery). It is perennial in temperate climates, like Oklahoma. The Bronze is a close relative, F. vulgare var. purpurescens, used in the same fashion as the dulce. F. vulgare var. azoricum is used for seeds, foliage, and the bulbous base is used as a vegetable (you've probably seen in the produce section of the supermarket). Calling them Florence fennel leads to more confusion cuz I find both referred to as Florence, depending on the writer. The butterflies don't care which one you use. thank goodness! The azoricum is less hardy than the dulce, but both are short-lived perennials IMHO, and are borderline hardy in Oklahoma, where winter extremes are variable from year to year. The good thing is that they do self-sow readily. That said, one year I had to remove the flowers due to a heavy wasp invasion. They loved the fennel flowers and the baby BSTs. I personally like the bulb fennel the best because produces more lush foliage which in a good winter stays green and full. I just don't use the bulbs. It has lasted 4 or 5 years max for me. The Bronze seems more prone to winter die back than the bulb, and I have to generally buy new plants. So, there you have my explanation and interpretation on the performance of fennel in my zone 7a garden. Susan

Hi, everyone, I did some research and here are some factors to consider... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_subtilis http://www.epa.gov/biotech_rule/pubs/fra/fra009.htm They do say to keep away from the skin because the bacteria is used for a lot of detergents and some people have dermatitis and skin allergies...There are also some precautionary elements about concerns of food poisoning because it is a bacterium but that it is very low level-risk in general... In other words, wash!!! before you eat and after you garden...My main concern is that the bacterium is super long-lasting, really stays like "glue" in the soil... so I am still debating this issue and am thinking well, at least pepper spray does wash out, etc. Greencure also has similar precautions about not dumping into a primary water source and poison control warnings and likewise has unlisted ingredients (15%) and 85% potassium bicarbonate .. likely because one can overdose on potassium carbonate...? but then there could be other reasons as well. Again, I have called up companies before to get the rest of the ingredients listing... if everyone is interested I can do this....

If you have an animal problem, pick the tomatoes at the first blush of pink. Place them on a plate in the house, out of the sun. They will ripen there and be delicious. Just before frost, I pick every green tomato and ripen them indoors that way.

Oh, sorry, when Mozilla changed Firefox's user interface (UI) to what's called "Australis" I wasn't too happy about it and installed an extension - Classic Theme Restorer - that returns it to it's previous layout. I get so used to it I've forgotten I've done it. But with the default Austalis UI, you get to Options by a different path. By default now, I think you click on what's known as the "hamburger" - a little icon at the top right made up of three little horizontal lines. When you click on that, you should see "Options" or "Preferences" I believe. See if that works.