Planting guide

When to plant florence fennel

Crisp aniseed-flavoured bulbs for salads and roasting. In Melbourne it goes in Aug–May.

Start as: Seed, sown in place
Ready in: 9–14 wks
Spacing: 30 cm
Depth: 1 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means florence fennel can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Canberra	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Alice Springs	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Manchester	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Chicago	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Austin	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Toronto	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mumbai	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Paris	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant florence fennel

Sow seed 1 cm deep where it will grow; it hates transplanting.
Thin to 25 cm.
Water evenly so it does not bolt.
Cut bulbs at the base when tennis-ball sized.

Florence Fennel varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Florence Fennel Classicheirloom · mild · 11–16 wksSweet bulbs with an aniseed flavour
Zefa Fino Classicslow-bolting · mild · 11–14 wksBolt-resistant bulb fennel
Bronze Fennel Adventurouscolourful · heirloom · 9–14 wksBronze foliage for herb and garnish, not bulb

Where to buy seeds

Search on The Diggers Club Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Lettuce, Cabbage, Pea

Florence Fennel by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lettuce · Spinach · Silverbeet · Kale · Rocket · Bok Choy

Not sure florence fennel is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now