Dill has a distinct mild and warm flavour with a faint aniseed aroma. The attractive, elegant plants look lovely in a cottage garden setting. Great for detering carrot root fly. Try cooking with chicken and fish dishes. Dukat dill seeds produce dill with a particularly fine bouquet and flavour. The darker-than-usual leaves are excellent fresh or dried. Dukat has exceptionally large seed heads. Dukat is the variety to grow for homemade dill pickles, and can be grown in a large container in full sun. This dill stays relatively short at 45-60cm (18-24"). The structure of dill's flowers is known as an umbel. Thus dill is considered an umbelliferous plant. Other umbellifers include carrots, cilantro, fennel, parsnips, and Ammi. All of these plants are attractive to predatory insects such as lady beetles, Syrphid flies (hover-flies), lacewings, and tiny parasitoid wasps. West Coast Seeds encourages organic gardeners to grow dill precisely to attract these beneficial insects, for they will control pest insects like aphids, thrips, whitefly, and the caterpillar of the Small White Butterfly (cabbage moth). Find out more about Companion Planting with Umbelifers.
