I just got some bronze fennel. I was wondering this about the regular fennel and rue, as well. Do you keep in pots, or do you plant in ground.
Any growing tips welcome as well. The rue is a tough customer.

I keep my bronze fennel in a pot because it likes to be by itself. I forget what I read about not liking to be grown around other plants... maybe it's the other plants that don't like it. Either way, I've had the same plant for years in a pot and it seems happy.

I grow my Rue in the ground, part shade. Depending on the winter, sometimes I lose a few. This year they seem to be coming back just fine. At MOSI, they have some planted in full sun and they seem to do just fine with that, too. I should probably trim them to make them bush out, but I'm bad about that sort of thing.

These plants seem to be pretty hardy in my area.

I grow Bronze Fennel in ground in part shade and in a huge pot in full sun and both plantings do well. I didn't know it liked to be grown alone so need to keep an eye on nearby plants. I don't even remember dropping seed into the big pot but one spring, there it was, happily putting forth that wonderfully scented foliage. The pot sits next to the entrance to my small greenhouse and when I walk past and brush against the sun warmed fennel, it smells so amazing. This pot was originally planted with common milkweed, which continues to put up growth each spring.

My Rue is grown in both dappled shade and full sun and does well in both locations. I also grow it in dappled sunlight in pots. When the BST and GST begin to leave eggs, it's rather like milkweed and the Monarchs, you can't have too much!

Myles

Will swallowtails not use regular fennel? Also, since bronze fennel has a long tap root, I would guess growing in a pot would bean issue at some point. I wanted to try in a pot. Thoughts?

They will use regular fennel, but I've heard many gardeners say the butterflies show a preference for the bronze. Never grown it myself.