• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Garden design
  • Container gardening
  • Food to grow
  • Gardens to visit
  • Events for gardeners
Garden Making

Garden Making

Inspiring ideas and information for great home gardens

Home » Anise hyssop for busy bees

Anise hyssop for busy bees

By Judith Adam Filed Under: Making a Garden

'Golden Jubilee' anise hyssop (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)
‘Golden Jubilee’ anise hyssop (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)

This has been a good summer for the three clumps of anise hyssop (Agastache cvs.) in my front garden. Anise hyssop is a generous producer of potent nectar, and that fits right in with my interest in the honey bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and tiny hover wasps that work so hard pollinating the vegetables, grains and fruits for our table.

I always hear a slight buzz in the garden, but with the presence of anise hyssop, there’s a swift breeze from all that wing activity. My purpose in attracting pollinators isn’t strictly altruistic; I also enjoy watching their enthusiastic hustle and bustle around the blue anise hyssops’ flower spikes. Fortunately, these well-bred pollinators don’t associate with yellow jacket wasps and are unaware of curious spectators. They’re oblivious to me as I get a close look at what’s going on. (I probably appear to them as a passing cloud.)

Anise hyssop is a neat, clump-forming plant (30 x 18 in. / 75 x 45 cm) that sends up multiple stems with terminal flower spikes. I pinch back the stems in late spring to encourage branching, resulting in additional flowering sideshoots. The plants like sun and good drainage, and start to bloom in July and carry on into September. The soft, misty blues of anise hyssop make attractive companion plants for brighter flowers, and I have my three planted near lemon yellow ‘Hyperion’ daylilies and several vivid coneflowers.

Giant hyssop ‘Blue Fortune’ (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’, Zone 3) has dusty violet florets that appear grey blue from a distance. It would work well with a silver plant like artemisia. The flower buds of ‘Blackadder’ (A. ‘Blackadder’, Zone 7) are almost black when tightly closed, and then open smoky lavender against dark purple wands. This one isn’t frost hardy in my garden so I have it in a container that will go into the garage over winter. My favourite is ‘Golden Jubilee’ (A. rugosa ‘Golden Jubilee’, Zone 6), named for Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee year. It has yellow chartreuse foliage with vivid purple flowers, and makes quite a spectacle when red admiral butterflies are on it. There’s also a ‘Red Fortune’ (A. mexicana ‘Red Fortune’, Zone 3) with dusky plum-red flowers, and I’ll be looking for that one next year.

During daylight hours, the anise hyssop clumps are never without bees and cabbage butterflies working their way up and down the flower spikes. I think their incessant attention is partly due to declining food sources—so many hybrid flowers produce little nectar. In the case of newer coleus cultivars, they might not even produce flowers. What a sad thing it is to deprive pollinators of food; and sadder still, if their absence deprives us of food.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Share this article

Published: July 30, 2012 | Updated: February 6, 2019

About Judith Adam

Judith Adam is a horticulturist, landscape designer and author of several best-selling gardening books, including Landscape Planning. She lives in Toronto.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Judith Adam says

    August 2, 2012 at 11:29 am

    Hi Jodi,

    Yes, I’m loving these Agastaches! With the garden so stressed this summer, they’re the only plants looking full and fine. I’d like to find ‘Red Fortune’, the mate to ‘Blue Fortune’. I think these will be cold hardy in my Zone 6a garden. The others will probably go into storage over winter.

    — Judith

    Reply
  2. jodi DeLong says

    August 2, 2012 at 9:08 am

    So glad you posted about this plant, Judith! I love the varieties growing in my garden, including Golden Jubilee, though it’s not as vigourous as I would like. I have ‘Blue Fortune’, too, which does very well.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Garden Making website

explore

  • Books for gardeners
  • Containers in your garden
  • Events for gardeners
  • Food to grow
  • Garden design
  • Gardens to visit
  • Growing from seed
  • How to
  • Plant ideas
  • Prizes for readers
  • Tips for gardeners

Members

  • Member login
  • Register for free membership
  • Manage your email preferences
  • Add your event listing
  • View events you’ve submitted
  • Backup form to submit event

Events for gardeners

May 24
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Catherine Kavassalis on herbs

Organizer: Brampton Horticultural Society
Laura: 905 799-1929
May 25
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Peterborough Horticultural Society Monthly Members’ Meeting

Organizer: Peterborough Horticultural Society
416-846-0778
May 27
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Selkirk Annual Plant Sale

Organizer: Selkirk & District Horticultural Society
(204) 738-2368
May 28
8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Bronte Annual Plant Sale

Organizer: Bronte Horticultural Society
May 28
8:00 am - 11:00 am

Fergus & District Horticultural Society Plant Sale

Organizer: Fergus Horticultural Society
519-820-6337
View Calendar

Get email updates

Join 9,703 gardeners who get our email updates. We do not share emails.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Copyright © 2022 Inspiring Media Inc. | GARDEN MAKING is a registered trademark | About | Service | Terms of use | Privacy policy