My Vintage Garden | Planting Anise in my Perennial Garden

My goal was to grow dill in my perennial herb garden this year. But I’m finding the slugs are drawn to it like it’s candy. 

It broke my heart when our neighborhood gardeners took out an incredible patch of anise growing wild on our trails. I loved that patch of anise! Whispy and willowy, it was beautiful to watch it grow and bloom every spring.

Despite the broken heart, I was also slightly encouraged. I knew it wasn’t really gone. Perennials like to reappear even when you think they’re gone for good. So I watched that area.

And I knew what I had to do when I saw a single anise plant growing this last week. If the HOA gardeners obliterated the natural growth of that patch of anise, then surely they wouldn’t mind me keeping the anise “in check” as well. So I did what I had to do. 

I poached the anise. 

It sounds harsh when I put it that way because I can't take something that was already "gone." Perhaps "poached" isn't the right word. Maybe "borrow" is the better word... borrowing a plant that shouldn't be there.

This beautiful plant smells great (like licorice) and will sit next to the little dill plant that, hopefully, will perk up despite the slugs. 

The anise looks perfect in my garden and I feel like I’m carrying on the natural patch of anise that used to sit about 20 yards from my house - I’m keeping the herbs going. Only in my own yard instead. Waste not, want not. 

Perennials rebirth themselves every year. It's why I love perennials so much. They keep going, like deciduous trees, losing their leaves... losing their life after giving it up, only to regain it back.

This feels like a perfect analogy for the weekend while I'm writing this. Death is not a finality. A temporary setback, perhaps. But not a finality.

A victory garden of the highest caliber.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend. my vintage friends.