Anise Hyssop 'Golden Jubilee' (Agastache foeniculum)

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Botanical name: Agastache foeniculum • Bloom season: Summer to fall • Bloom color: Lavender-blue • Pollinator value: One of the highest bee-visitation plants in the catalog; heavy nectar for bumble and honey bees

Chartreuse-gold foliage under soft lavender-blue spikes, so it carries color before it ever blooms and holds it after. The leaves smell strongly of licorice when crushed. This is one of the busiest plants in the catalog once it opens: bumblebees work it from first light until the light goes, and it produces nectar for weeks rather than days.

Botanical name: Agastache foeniculum • Bloom season: Summer to fall • Bloom color: Lavender-blue • Pollinator value: One of the highest bee-visitation plants in the catalog; heavy nectar for bumble and honey bees

Chartreuse-gold foliage under soft lavender-blue spikes, so it carries color before it ever blooms and holds it after. The leaves smell strongly of licorice when crushed. This is one of the busiest plants in the catalog once it opens: bumblebees work it from first light until the light goes, and it produces nectar for weeks rather than days.

Size:

Plant Characteristics

Botanical Name: Agastache foeniculum

Cultivar: 'Golden Jubilee'

Common Name: Anise Hyssop

Native: Cultivar

Native Region: Northwestern Great Plains

Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun

Water: Moderate

Bloom Time: Summer to fall

Bloom Color: Lavender-blue

Pollinators: Bees; Butterflies; Hummingbirds

Deer Resistant: Yes

Mature Size: W 1'-2' x H 2'-3'

Soil: Well-drained; average garden soil

Pollinator Value: One of the highest bee-visitation plants in the catalog; heavy nectar for bumble and honey bees

Plant Type: Herbaceous perennial

USDA Zones: 4 to 9

Spread Habit: Clumping; self-sows

Available As: Live plant

Growing Notes

Full sun keeps the gold foliage brightest, but a little afternoon shade stops the leaves scorching in Great Basin climates, which is the usual complaint with gold-leaved plants. It takes more water than the southwestern agastaches and less than a perennial border average. Space about 18 inches apart.

  • Water: Moderate

  • Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun

  • Soil: Well-drained; average garden soil

  • Mature size: W 1'-2' x H 2'-3'

Maintenance

Leave the seed heads standing through winter. Goldfinches work them, and the stems shelter insects; cut back in late spring. It self-sows freely, and the seedlings almost always come up plain green rather than gold, so pull the ones you do not want. Deadhead during the season if you would rather have no volunteers at all.