
Agastache foeniculum (Pursh) Kuntze
Lamiaceae
Agastache foeniculum (Pursh) Kuntze, Anise Hyssop
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Agastache
Anise Hyssop has long purple flower spikes with aniseed-scented, oval, toothed mid green leaves. As a culinary herb you can use the flowers in sweet and savoury salads and the leaves in salads and for making herbal infusions, teas or tisanes.
• Hardiness: H3 (1 to -5C)
• Type: Herbaceous Perennial
• Height: 70cm
• Spread: 30cm
Can be seen in Jekka's Herbetum and available as both herb plants and herb seeds.
• Soil type: Sand, Light Loam, Free Draining
• pH: Universal pH
• Habit: Upright
• Flowering colour: Purple
• Flowering time: Summer
• Uses: Culinary & Medicinal
• Attracts pollinators: Yes
• Container suitability: No
• UK native: No
• Caution: N/A
• Indoor Sowing: In early spring in prepared plug trays or pots, cover seeds with perlite. Bottom heat, 18°C, aids germination.
• Outdoor Sowing: In early summer direct into a light free draining soil in full sun. Thin seedlings to 20cm apart.
• Propagation: Division
• Maintenance: N/A
• Harvest: Cut flowers for drying just as they begin to open. Cut leaves just before late spring flowering. Seed heads turn brown as seed ripens: at the first sign of seed falling, pick and hang upside down with a paper bag tied over the heads.
For information on growing herbs from seeds please see Jekka's blogs on sowing seeds, sowing your winter culinary herbs or how to grow vegetables.
Jekka's "How to Grow Herbs" videos, includes Jekka's video on how to sow seeds for an informative step-by-step guide to seed sowing.
Growing indoors? Check out Jekka's blog on indoor herb gardening for some advice.
If you require pots or compost, see Jekka's Herb Kits that includes Jekka's Seed Sowing Kit. This kit contains all you need to sow a collection of herb seeds.
For more information on growing herbs plants please see Jekkapedia, Jekka's blog or our FAQs page.
Happy Herbs!
At Jekka’s we sell herbs in 1 Ltr and 2 Ltr pots. These are established and hardy herb plants that are grown following organic principals and to survive the UK climate. Please read Jekka's blog that contains her top steps to growing on your herbs.
There is also ‘Jekka’s Seasonal Tips’ series that covers growing and maintaining herbs in early spring, late spring, summer and autumn & winter. Together they form Jekka’s guide on how to grow herbs.
Our herbs are designed to be grown in containers or planted in the garden. Although some herbs will be quite happy indoors, most prefer being outside. Please see our indoor growing blog for more information.
If you require pots or compost, we have developed Jekka's Herb Kits, which includes Jekka's "Grow On" Kit. These kits contain all you need to grow on your herbs.
If you think your herbs need a little more attention we always recommend an environmentally friendly solution, and these are Jekka's top three:
- Maxicrop liquid seaweed: 'Feed on Fridays' as Jekka always says for all round good plant health.
- SB Invigorator: a safe and effective insecticide and fungicide to help control a wide range of pest species
- Epsom salts: the horticultural equivalent of what you put in your bath to top up magnesium and stop orange leaves.
For more information on growing herbs plants please see Jekkapedia, Jekka's blog or our FAQs page.
Happy Herbs!
One of our three core roots is that we are Environmentally Conscious and for the past 30 years all the herbs grown at Jekka’s have been raised following sustainable, environmentally friendly and organic approaches resulting in a remarkable biodiversity at the herb farm.
Our herb seeds are also untreated and can be used to grow organic herb plants.
You can read more about our sustainability approach to growing herbs in one of Jekka's Blogs or in Jekka's Guide to Climate Change.