Anise Seeds

Anise is the plant behind aniseed, and growing it gives you the sweet, liquorice-scented seed fresh from the head rather than from a jar. Pimpinella anisum is a slender Mediterranean annual with rounded lower leaves and finely cut upper ones, topped in midsummer by lacy white umbels that bees and butterflies visit. The seeds flavour breads, biscuits and cakes and make a warming herbal tea, and a few young leaves can be chopped into salads.

Sowing and growing

• Sow outdoors where it is to grow in late April or May, once the soil has warmed and frost has passed. It dislikes root disturbance, so avoid transplanting.
• Sow about 0.5 to 1 cm deep and thin seedlings to 20 cm apart.
• Germination takes 10 to 20 days and can be uneven in cool soil.
• Full sun in a sheltered spot, in light, well-drained soil. Taller plants may need a short stake.
• Grows to about 45 to 60 cm tall.
• Flowers in midsummer; seed is ready from late summer into early autumn, around 120 days from sowing, when it turns brown.
• Half-hardy annual that needs a warm summer to ripen its seed well.

What you receive: a packet of about 120 seeds from Piccolo Seeds, with growing instructions on the back.

Browse our full range of herb and flower seeds, add more plants for pollinators, or explore our exotic edibles.