What is happening to my fennel?

[GemColouredDrawers]

This is an established fennel plant with two thick stems this year. One stem is fine, the other is completely flopping at the top and the leaves are going brown. What the heck is going on? Fennel has always been bombproof for me before this year.
(Pic show sad stem and happy stem)

Bump?

Bit dry? Bit wet? Fennel does this though. Chop it to the base and let it re-grow; it's just looking end-of-seasony

Looks like overwatering to me

Overwatering by the excessive rain would make sense this year, but why would it affect one stem but not the other stem of the same plant?

End of season doesn't make sense since end of fennel season is September/October, not beginning of July!

Maybe I should just cut that stem down. I'm holding our vain hope it might recover

Out

Do you cut back hard in Spring? That's what I do

Mine just die off over winter and then sprout from the roots in spring. Nothing to cut down then.

It's not weird for one stem to be affected and not another - there's always variation (one is thinner/weaker/grew earlier/grew later/is further from the root etc.).

Fennel doesn't really have a 'season'. It's a herb that commonly goes like this when it's slightly stressed, and needs cutting back.

No, it won't.

Ok, I'll chop it then!

It does have a season though - mine does. It starts growing in spring, develops flowers over summer and then the 'seeds' (which are apparently really tiny fruits) in autumn and I pick them and eat them until there are no more, and the heads and stems gradually dry out and go brown over the winter, when it all begins again from the base the following spring.

Thanks for the advice 🙂

Oh, I'm sorry - yes, it absolutely has a season in that sense.

What I meant was, fennel is one of those plants that is quite changeable depending when you plant it, what the conditions are like, when you chop it back, and so on. Many herbaceous plants are like this, and true herbs like fennel especially - you can get them to grow and go through their whole life cycle at quite different times of the year. The strongest spurs for them are not light levels (as with, say, a sweet pea) or overnight temperatures (as with most veg), but a combination of factors. And, because they just want to grow, if you chop them back, they will usually re-grow quite happily within the non-dormant months.

With some plants - roses, say, or tulips - you can accurately predict within a days or weeks when the plant will flower. That's a plant that has a season. Other plants, like fennel, just do their thing, and can be swayed weeks or months one way or another.

Oh that's very interesting and I didn't know that. Thanks!

Well, the 'healthy' stem has just spontaneously snapped near the base - it looks like that stem was rotting through. I blame and the bloody rain and my clay soil. It's never been a problem before but this particular plant is in the least well drained part of the garden so that makes sense.

I'm going to chop it all off and hope it resprouts as you've said. 🤞