Funny name for a fantastic native plant!
By Gail Frezzette
Moana Nursery Color Buyer & Successful High Desert Gardener
This plant is perfect for our Nevada climate and soils as well as for our bunny and Bambi populations which seem to turn their noses up at these plants.
My garden is the home to several plants from this mint family (or hyssop, as your grandmother may have called it). When I planted up my first quart size agastache in a large pot along with some penstemon and delphinium, my intention was to make an irresistible little garden for the hummers and us to enjoy. However, the next spring I was disappointed that few if any of the plants had survived and the pot was relegated to a back corner to await a makeover. Spring turned into the 4th of July and I discovered this lone surviving agastache had grown to 3’ high plant loaded with hundreds of light orange trumpet flowers which filled up my big, old pot. That pot was then given center stage in the front gardens so we could enjoy the show of the flowers and hummingbird wars that continued all season. After that I added more of these easy to grow natives.
I planted one called ‘Bubblegum Mint’ with an ‘Orange Crush’ rose, some salvia, California fuchsia and thyme ground cover; the combination was a show stopper for the entire season! The flowers lasted well over two months and were still going when the hard frost hit in late November.
Watch for Gail’s full article in our September newsletter.
