The love of the honeybee and the Anise Hyssop

[Cindi]

This spring I took quite a few cuttings from my mother Anise Hyssop, the mothers are enormous plants now, these cuttings are big too, in full bloom and have been since about the first week of July.  THese plants just seem to keep on blooming and blooming, with still no end in sight.  All these hyssop are covered in bees all day long, wanna find a bee, go to the hyssop, I am astounded at the love of this beauty of a plant.  I took some pictures awhile ago and I am posting one here, still trying out the new image resizer software.  It is simple as can be. 

Mick said to try VSO image resizer because I was having difficulties with Irfranview.  That was a difficult program for me to work with.  VSO is so simple I can't believe it.  Similar to Microsoft's image resizer in powertoys.  Simply right click on the picture and size it to what you want, one step, makes copies at the same time and names them at the same time, named the same as original, but indicates the pixels in the name so it is saved under a different name.

This pic of the anise I am putting on the forum is 640 x 480, or something like that, 102 kb (these are approximate, coming from my memory only).  No idea wwhat the 640 x  480 means, but that is what I had to size it to to get the kb near to 100 kb.  ENjoy the picture and best of all, have a wonderful day and enjoy this day.  Cindi

[Kirk-o]

I read once some were that a acre of those would make hundreds of pounds of honey
wonderful plants
kirko

[Bennettoid]

where can I get some?

[Dane Bramage]

Awesome Cindi!  :-D  I've got a pack of 1000 Anise Hyssop seeds ready for next spring.  I think I'll cover one whole hill with them!  ;)

[Galaxy]

Agastache (pronounced Aga â€" sta â€" cheee) foeniculum or Anise-Hyssop should certainly be a part of any planting for bees. It is a great honey plant, much loved by bees. In fact, it is also known as Pellett's wonder honey plant. I have a 20 ft row of it in my garden and it is absolutely covered with bees from the time it starts blooming in early July until almost frost time. I am in the process of planting much more of it. It grows about three to five feet high and about as wide in a thick stand that shades out about all other plants. Most blooms are blue, but some are white. It also self-seeds readily.

The two kinds that I am sowing are:
Agastache 'Blue Delight'
http://www.hardyplants.com/Merchant2...&Store_Code=SP
and
Agastache 'Hardy Mix'
http://www.hardyplants.com/Merchant2...&Store_Code=SP

If you order seeds from www.hardyplants.com, order them early. I placed an order on 7/9/07 and it was shipped on 8/17/07. You can sow it in the spring and it will bloom the first year. I plan to sow some this fall and some next spring.

[BeeHopper]

I tried to grow them from seed this year to no avail. Found out that  most perennial seeds need what is called cold moisture stratification. My error:  I kept them warm and dry till spring, sowed them at the farm, I suppose they are still dormant.  :?


I know what to do now  :-D

[Galaxy]

Stratification is necessary for some perennials.  I did not use stratification when I first grew my agastache from seed.  I fact, I germinated them under fluorescent lights in my house in late winter.

If you want to use stratification, here are several ways to do it:
http://www.alchemy-works.com/fall_planting.html

My favorite method is Winter/Solstice Sowing.  Although, I do not sow the seeds on December 21st.  I sow in late February.  It is very easy, just sow the seeds in some moist soil-less medium in a plastic container, cover it with clear plastic (secured with a rubber band), and place the containers outside in a shady spot (such as the north side of your house).  They will germinate when the weather warms up.  I have germinated many different perennials this way.   

[reinbeau]

I've got them agastache over the yard, I've had them for years because of my mom and being a bit of an herbalist.  I grew the Honeybee Blue variety this year, there's three or four plants out there blooming right now.

The plant the bees are really going for right now over at my mothers are the mountain mints (Pycnanthemum muticum or Short Toothed Mountain Mint I think is the variety).  I'll post one here but I'm going to do a thread of pix of her house.  Here's the mountain mint (sorry about the glare, I still don't have a good handle on fine-tuning the camera):

[ndvan]

I live about .5 mile from a Lowe's store.  They had a whole table of these plants for sale in late summer.  I was at the store and honeybees (I think mine) were all over them. 

I have a spot where I would like to plant a few of these, but it is only gets sun part of the day.  Does anybody know how well these tolerate some shade?

Thanks

[Galaxy]

They do fine in some shade.  Mine get sun for about one-half of the day.   They look very much like Cindi's picture, except some of mine have white blooms.

[Cindi]

Hmm..I have some investigation to do. I grow two species of Anise Hyssop, two totally different plants.  The bees love one in particular.  This is the one that I cultivate by cuttings, it creates a massive plant, very tall.  The other Anise I grew by seed, propogated in my heated greenhouse, transplanted outdoors,  the bees love it too, but it is a very small plant in comparison to the "bush" hyssop that is from cuttings.  I am going with the subshrub Anise Hyssop, takes up a lot of room, but because of the height, and the tall spikes tha arise from the foliage, definitely more desirable to grow for the bees.  I will identify, in my own mind, the name of the Hyssop that I prefer.  Have this wonderful day, love our life we're livin'.  Cindi

[Aisha]

Great photo! I just put some in for the first time but they haven't bloomed yet. I have blue hyssop and agastache.

It's good to know that cuttings are easy too.

All the best,
Aisha in Austin

[danno1800]

I appreciated the link to the seed company & the one on how to stratify the seeds. -Danno

[fcderosa]

Hmmm, how odd.  :-\  I have quite a bit of Agastache right next to the Bee Balm; the bees won't have anything to do with it. They won't touch the mint or catnip neither.  The geraniums they'll go for.

[Cindi]

fcderosa. Wow....that is incredible, maybe there is simply other plants more attractive.  The Anise Hyssop is still covered in bees, along with the myriad of other annuals and perennials in this flow now.  I don't see the bees on any of my geraniums  :?  Interesting the different tastes of the bees.  Have a wonderful day, beauty of a life. Cindi

[tillie]

My Anise Hyssop looks just like yours, Cindi - I've been so grateful for your suggestion.  I have three plants and they were covered with bees - mostly bumble but some honeybees - at the height of their bloom.  How do you make cuttings?  Cut and put in water until they root?  Or cut and dip in rooting medium and plant?

Linda T in Atlanta

[Cindi]

Linda, Anise is probably one of the easiest of cuttings that I have ever done, you will love my method, yours, allowing to root in water may or may not work, haven't tried it.

In early spring when the plant has shoots coming up (it is dormant to the ground in wintertime), I take a shoot that has at leave two leaf sets, remove the bottom leaves, root hormone dip, and then the leaf node put underground.  It will look like a little tiny plant with just one little set of leaves (you could make 3 leaf sets, doesn't really matter).  In a couple of weeks that will have rooted.  Even though the leaves may look wilted, let them grow, stuff is going on underground, amazing.  In about a month, (providing you have checked and you see roots), plant it out, after last frost.  It will bloom the same year and the next year will be the enormous mother plant.  Easy, please try.

Linda, there may have been more honeybees on it than you realize.  Is it still blooming?

I find that the mother plants' blooms give up long before the cuttings of that year.  Now at my place the mother plants blooms are done, but the cuttings are still going full bore.  So taking the cuttings and making new plants prolongs the blooming season of Anise Hyssop for a long time.  Next year, I am heading deeper into this cutting stuff and am going to plant hundreds.  Why not?  I have the room and like all perennials (and annuals that self-seed too), once you've got them, they are yours till???????

The bombus are all gone now, narry a one that I have seen for about a week, but the honeybees are still going nuts and nuts and nuts!!!!  Have this wonderful day.

Linda, just for the fun of it, why don't you try and take a few cuttings and overwinter them in your house?  I think that I am going to do an experiment and do that to, just for the fun of it!!!!  Beautiful day, great day, love this day.  Cindi

[Romahawk]

I too have a couple of hyssop varieties in a row along the edge of my garden. They have had lots of bumble bees, solitary bees, and butterfly's on them all summer but I have not seen more than one or two honeybees. The honeybees just don't seem to be attracted to them for some reason. Right now they are really after the goldenrod and aster but are still ignoring the hyssop.

[UtahBees]

Can I buy Anise Hyssop some seeds now and plant them now?

It'll be 70 degrees or more for about 4 weeks here in Utah at least.

Regards,

UtahBees

[Cindi]

UtahBees.  You have 4 weeks of good weather, and then the hard Utah winter sets in.  YOu could set the seed now, it will germinate in the spring when the weather allows it to.  There is no point in setting the seed now, plants need several months (well anise anyways) to grow large enough to set flower buds.  Setting the seed in the fall was in my eyes, not a good thing to do.  There are birds that love seed, and unless you can protect the seeds, a likelihood of the birds getting them is high.  Some seeds require light to germinate, others need dark, i.e., uncovered, covered.  Ones that are covered are generally safe from predators, but ones that need light, that is another story.

There are several species (many) of Anise.  I have to species

1)  Anise Hyssop Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
2)  Agastache Licorice Mint Blue Agastache anisata (Anise Hyssop)

The Blue Fortune is a shrub, at least 3 feet tall, with tall flower spikes above it, blooms from beginning of July til frost kill
The Agastache anisata is a low growing plant, when in flower very floppy looking and quite untidy due to the weight of the flower stalks.  My preference is the shrub species, but I will always grow both, they both have their place in the garden.  The bees are drawn to these two plants like I never in my wildest dreams could imagine.

Why some people don't have a huge attraction to their anise like I do is a mystery.  Maybe soil.  I know that it loves to have excellent drainage for these plants to grow well.  Hmm...Have a wonderful day, best of our great life.  Cindi