Fennel differences?

[peebee]

I want to try growing fennel again but when I go online to order seeds there seems to be 2 types, the bulbing kind & the wild kind that is used for seed harvesting. How do I know what I'll order is the bulbing kind, is there a name or variety I should look for? On some sites if I read reviews, some people claim their fennel didn't produce bulbs, just fronds, yet some say they had bulbs; these are reviews for the same non-wild variety mind you. So is it perhaps the fault of the grower, and most non-wild fennel does bulb? I did grow fennel years ago but I don't remember what seeds I had. They produced bulbs. Thanks.

[MissTee]

I believe the bulbing kind is called ‘Florence’ Fennel. I made a mistake the one year I tried it, and got the flowering kind.

[karstopography]

Several cultivars of bulbing types. Trieste, Dragon, Solaris, etc.

There’s also bronze fennel. I’ve planted bulbing and bronze fennel. Pretty forgiving type of herb.

[PlainJane]

I’ve been very happy with a Florence fennel type called Preludio, seeds from Territorial Seeds.

[pondgardener]

First time growing fennel and the seeds I ordered were the wild fennel (Finocchio Selvatico). Seeds packaged by Franchi Sementi, sold by Seeds from Italy.

[peebee]

The reviews on Florence fennel from Baker's Seeds are so confusing. Many say they didn't get bulbs, but a handful said they did. Most don't even mention bulbs. The photo shows nice fat bulbs. Guess I'll take my chance & try it. Thanks all

[Tormato]

I tried it once, it was a very hot spring and summer, and the plants didn't make it.

I've heard (don't know if it's true) that the bulbing types, in hot weather, can bolt, go to seed, and often doesn't bulb.

[Shule]

Several cultivars of bulbing types. Trieste, Dragon, Solaris, etc.

There’s also bronze fennel. I’ve planted bulbing and bronze fennel. Pretty forgiving type of herb.

I thought bronze fennel was a non-bulbing perennial type. That's one of the reasons it's been on my to-grow list. You got bulbs?

[Shule]

Anyway, the perennial factor was more important to me than whether or not it got bulbs.

[karstopography]

IMG_5369.jpeg

@Shule bronze fennel definitely wasn’t a bulbing type. I might have to seed some soon.

IMG_5370.jpeg

This was the state of the fennel, all bulbing type, patch today. I think it got to 27° last night and the fennel looked good this morning. Supposed to snow overnight into tomorrow, 2-4 inches so I’ll see how fennel handles snow.

[MissTee]

Hi @peebee - here is the Fennel page from William Dam seeds in Canada. Looks like I gave you the wrong information and that Finnochio/Florence variety is a Foliage type. Sorry!

The Bulbing types and Foliage types are clearly identified in the pic.

[peebee]

No problem @MissTee I got Romanesco fennel seeds from Botanical Interests & it says bulbing fennel on the packet. On the back though it does say that for bulbs to form the seeds need to be sown by certain dates for either indoor or outdoor methods. Hopefully I just made the cut.
Interesting that the William Dam site only lists F1 varieties for the bulbing type. Perhaps those types are guaranteed to bulb no matter when they're down.