Mexican hyssop

A new plant (to me) appeared this summer in local plant sales: Mexican hyssop.

Agastache mexicana
belongs to a large, widespread genus, with species native to a variety of habitats, predominately in dry hilly areas of the Southwestern U.S., Mexico, Japan, and China.

There are already lots of selections, but I'm quite keen on the one that I obtained from a vendor at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville and the similar one that we had at our Garden plant sale this fall.

I thought I had a image of it sprawling out of the oak-half barrel, but apparently only kept this one, of a overnighting carpenter bee on a flower.

Bees and hummingbirds favor its large, nectar-rich flowers -- and, it has a long flowering time, so there's not much NOT to like about that.

Comments

  1. I love this plant...a lot. It does struggle in my clay soil...but that didn't keep me from getting another plant to try once more! gail

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's such a great plant that I had already sung its praises in a previous post this season, and obviously had forgot about it!

    The plant in the oak half-barrel is doing much better than the one in the perennial border, so definitely 'good drainage' is in order -- our heavy clay soil, whether acid or alkaline, isn't its preference, to be sure.

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love hyssops and just recently discovered them myself. Have been trying to find varieties hardy here in Z4/5 (NY). This one is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I enjoy hearing from fellow nature lovers and gardeners. Let me know your thoughts.