Agastache foeniculum
Anise hyssop
Common names: Blue giant hyssop
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Pot size
- from 10 l
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Flowering
- Jun–Sep
- Hardiness
- Hardy
Photo: WayneRay · Public Domain · Source
Description
Agastache foeniculum, commonly known as anise hyssop, attracts bees and bumblebees with its violet flower heads from June to September. Rubbing a leaf between the fingers releases a subtle anise scent, which is the origin of its common name. The plant grows 60 to 90 cm tall and eventually forms a compact clump. It is native to North America and is popular as a pollinator plant and tea herb. The species is non‑toxic and considered safe for children and pets.
Care instructions
Plant anise hyssop in a full‑sun, warm location with well‑drained, somewhat sandy soil. It does not tolerate waterlogging, so incorporate sand into heavy soils. Water only when the soil remains persistently dry, allowing it to dry out between waterings. After flowering, cut back the flower heads to encourage a second bloom. In mild winters it survives outdoors; at frosty sites a loose mulch layer over the roots provides protection. For tea, harvest young leaves best in the morning when essential oils are most potent.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
FloweringJun–Sep
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, lean, dry, sandy
Anise hyssop likes it loose and rather lean, as it knows from its North American prairie home. It hardly forgives heavy, waterlogged soils, where the roots rot quickly. A free-draining, sandy to loamy-sandy soil with few nutrients is quite enough for it; soil that is too rich makes it sprawl instead of flower.
Feeding
Light feeder
As an undemanding wild perennial, anise hyssop needs practically no feeding. A thin layer of mature compost in spring is quite enough to see it through the season. If you keep the soil lean anyway, you even encourage abundant flowering and sturdier shoots.
Overwintering
Anise hyssop is perennial, but reacts sensitively to wet, heavy winter soil. A loose mulch of leaves or brushwood protects the rootstock in severe frost, especially in the first one to two years in place. It is best to leave the withered stems standing until spring; they protect the new growth and offer insects winter quarters.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Cuttings
- Division
The easiest way to propagate it is by sowing from mid-May · week 20, because anise hyssop is a light germinator that germinates reliably in warmth and often self-seeds in the garden. So just press the seeds down and do not cover them with soil. Tip cuttings from non-flowering shoots can be taken in early summer and root fairly reliably in moist, loose seed compost. You can divide older clumps in spring, which keeps the plant vital and gives you new young plants for other beds straight away.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
nightshade family (Solanaceae)
particularly well establishedYou will find that basil next to tomato and pepper improves taste and keeps whiteflies and aphids away.
For example PotatoTomatoSweet pepperCocktail tomatoEggplantCape gooseberry and 14 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
cabbage family (Brassicaceae)
You will notice that the intense scent of basil, thyme, and others confuses the cabbage whitefly and keeps it away from the cabbage family.
For example White cabbageKohlrabiRadishKalebroccolicauliflower and 41 more species in the catalogue
Source: bio-gardening intercropping practice
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Anise hyssop yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
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