Sweet Cicely

This is a beautiful plant. It's a perennial, has a neat habit, lacy fern like foliage and fragrant flowers. That's a lot, but with this plant there is more.

The leaves chopped and added to a strawberry rhubarb pie reduce the amount of sugar needed.

The young green seeds have a delightful licorice flavor. I frequently sample them while working in the garden. Chopped seeds turn an plain unsugared fruit salad into a gourmet treat. Garnish it with the flowers and leaves and you have a work of art! I always freeze some seeds in a zip lock bag for late summer and winter fruit salads.

Later the seeds become woody and then turn dark brown. They are no longer good to eat, but have been used for furniture polish.

This plant grows well from fresh seed planted in the fall. As with many plants that self-seed well, you can have the same success by planting the seeds at that same time. If you can't get fresh seed from a gardening friend, you need to look for a plant.