Hyssop (Agastache)

A Favorite Perennial for Pollinators

• Hardiness Range: 5 to 9
• Height: 24” to 36”
• Spread: 12” to 24”, depending on variety
• Exposure: Full Sun
• Bloom Color: Blue/Purple

Why We Love It:

Hyssop is absolutely fantastic at attracting pollinators – you will see a constant revolving door of bees, butterflies, and other welcome insects. This lovely perennial produces bold, aromatic flowers that bloom freely from mid-summer to mid-fall, and are excellent for cutting. You’ll want to deadhead the spent flowers to promote additional blooms all season long. The plants have a pleasant minty-anise fragrance and the leaves may be used in potpourris or to flavor cold beverages and teas.

While this plant is very attractive to pollinators, it is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats.

Know Before You Plant:

Some of our favorite varieties for Waukesha include “Blue Fortune” and “Blue Giant”.  Hyssop is not terribly aggressive but it can spread out as the years go by.  Full sun is preferred, but hyssop can tolerate a few hours of light shade if it receives good sunlight for the majority of the day.  Soils should be well drained.

Other varieties of agastache are grown as annuals in our area. While they will not reliably come back year-over-year, they make an excellent addition to container gardens and are good companion plants for edible vegetable crops that benefit from the pollinator traffic.

Where It Thrives:

Near patios, along walkways, and in butterfly gardens. They can easily grow in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils and prefer full sun.