PlantFiles: Anise Hyssop, Licorice Mint
Agastache foeniculum

I planted three of these in partial shade last year. This year, my bed is covered in seedlings. It's not a problem, though, as they are easy to pull. I love the anise scent, and the birds, bees, and butterflies love them.

Zone 7A, Petersburg, Virginia. I have two agastaches growing near each other in a sunny location, one sort of a generic agastache and the other golden. The seedlings all seem to be golden, so I don't know if the green is slower to germinate or if the golden is dominant when they cross-pollinate. I will have to wait to see if the seedlings turn a darker green when they mature. This is the first year I've noticed seedlings at all, and I don't mind the plants' fertility because I am happy to have some to share.

This volunteered itself beside the bird feeders...and I left it there just because I missed "weeding" it, then, once I realized it smelled like Anise, it was a keeper...weed or not ;) Imagine my surprise to find it can be used for teas and is so attractive to so many critters and birds, too and has a pretty flower spike, as well as fragrance? Well, it's a winner all around and might explain why the thistle feeder gets so little attention.

Finally took some seeds from it this season with the intention of spreading the plant around a little. I've found it easy to contain by just pulling any sprigs beyond where I want it...it's original home...and it has not gotten out of hand at all.

I have grown this perennial in my garden for years. It grows in full sun and also light shade. Enjoys dry soil even with neglect. It self sows prolifically. Flowers are a beautiful purple and the leaves are anise scented.

I started my plant by seeds I had purchased. Started in the house in the window and put outside in it's seed growing container when the weather warmed. The weather turned bad twice with snow storms, but I kept the seedlings outside anyway, under plastic. I had planted roughly nine seeds and only three came up and those seemed set back for a month or two. But, once the weather turned warm and then hot and stayed that way, the plants took off and are very healthy. This is my first experience with Anise Hyssop and today I've picked some mature leaves to have tea and am now sipping Anise Hyssop tea for the first time. My husband I and both enjoy the tea. I look forward to allowing the flowers to grow and to save seeds so to grow more next year and to give away to friends and family.

Terrific, no-maintenance plant. Here in CT it self-sows PROLIFICALLY. You could practically go into business selling them, and if you don't pull constantly it will take over the garden. The good news is it comes up easily, and I've given away tons of them, thrown away 10 times as many.

It is the closest thing I have gotten to a perfect plant in my opinion. Looks good, smells good, tastes good and attracts numerous animals.

i have a bed of this plant on a hillside that needed something to fill it in. the plants attracts honey bees and bumble bees mid summer and a dozen orioles late summer. northern rhode island.

This plant grows at our local city part in a few places as a part of prairie plantings. Another kind of hyssop with a different flavor (more minty) is more common — maybe Agastache scrophulariifolia.

Update: Two years ago (2009) I took some seeds from the park and sprinkled them in a pot of soil from the garden. After winter, they sprouted (2010), and I planted one seedling in a new garden patch in the middle of our lawn. The same year, it grew into a large bushy plant, aided by frequent watering and deep soil, and had many flowers, perpetually covered by bumblebees. The flowers are sweet and taste like licorice.

I had left other seedlings in the pot, and they didn't grow much larger. This year (2011), I moved them to places around the yard.

In the fall, small birds love the seeds from it too. You will see them hanging on and eating the seeds. Most of mine are 6 feet tall here. I must be doing something right

I planted two small plants nine years ago and it has reseeded itself into a "grove" of hyssop! It's a late Summer bloomer and loved by butterflies, bees, wasps, etc. and smells great. It's pretty invasive but easy to pull out where you don't want it. I originally one in what I called the butterfly garden in a corner of the yard but turned that area into a veggie garden with five raised beds and the hyssop still comes back every year in those beds. Like I said, it's easy to pull out. It's a great plant for a large open area and likes a lot of sun.

I planted two of these about a foot apart last fall. Early on in March, one of them exploded in height and bloom. I assumed the other had died until one day in May when it suddenly appeared and has been growing like mad since. Crazy! As others have said, the butterflies and bees LOVE this stuff. I love the look and the smell. Haven't had any problems with reseeding (yet?). It definitely needs to be staked here, but I just leaned it up against a small trellis on one side and it seems to stay up. A great plant for the cottage garden!

I have mixed reactions to this plant. On the good side, it definitely is loved by a wide range of pollinators and flowers long and vigorously. It grows well from seed (cold, moist stratification dramatically improves germination), and flowers the first year. If you need a U.S. prairie native that will give you quick results in a new planting, this is definitely a winner. It has an fairly strong anise scent which many like.

The reason for my neutral is that it is an incredibly prolific self-seeder and can overwhelm a garden or bed very quickly. While it doesn't spread aggressively by rhizomes, it is very aggressive, and needs vigilant pulling of seedlings to keep it in check. I'd discourage someone planting more than a couple per 100 sq. feet, and even then you'll have to work to keep it from overwhelming less vigorous forbs.

Our anise hyssop patch is 2 years + in the Minneapolis LaSalle Community garden and very hardy here in zone 4. The flowers and leaves have a black licorice odor that is unrivaled. for bees and butterflies .. In 2005 we harvested much of the foliage for a fine melissa/agastache tea served at the Barebones Halloween festival.. Mixed with chocolate mint it is the basis for a pungent licorice cordial. .

This is a native, drought tolerant plant in the mint family. I planted a couple small clumps from divisions, and they have done very well -- over 4 feet tall! The long spikes flower from mid-summer right through fall, and as someone else noted, the goldfinches really like the seeds. Bumblebees and various beneficial insects are attracted to this plant. The leafs in spring and summer have a nice purplish tint and smell wonderful. The seeds easily knock out when mature; I have started some by simply sprinkling them in a pot with potting mix/soil and leaving it out overwinter. I had a nice potted plant for outdoors the next year. Having left the pot out overwinter again, the plant survived and did well another year! I think it only got some fallen maple leafs for fertiliser. Use its leafs as an alternative to mint in beverages or a garnish. It does best in full sun, and often its lower leafs fall off, so something shorter planted in front can help hide bare stems. Give the licorice mint room though, as it can spread 2 feet across, or even more as the heavy flowering spikes lean out in all directions. It looks great swaying in the wind, which it can take a fair amount of.

This is a lovely plant with a fragrance that cannot be beat. Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds hang out around it. The purple flower is delightful. I find I have to pull up quite a few of these each year. If I didn't pull them, Anise Hyssop would be my only garden flower! The extra seedlings aren't a big problem, though. I can easily tolerate them for the plant's many merits.

Planted from seed many years ago. In the fall noticed from the back porch that it seemed covered in yellow. Upon closer examination, realized it was covered in goldfinches! Every fall since then the goldfinches descend to feed on the tiny seeds. It's fun to watch. The leaves make great tea, esp. combined with Bee Balm leaves.

I read a book that said it might be hardy to zone 2. It's a bit of pain to pull up seedlings as they threaten to take over smaller perennials. They seem to accept part shade, too but strongly prefer light shade (my garden rarely get any more than five or six hours of sun so is estimated as light shade). I think most if not all of the plants has the mint scent, as the smell of anise wasn't noticed. (I compare the scent to a rare speciment of anise magnolia on the Minnesota Arboretum which of course smell like anise).

In addition to all the other notes, I've found this plant throwing some seedlings which don't smell like anise at all, but like strong, pungent mint; maybe 5-10 percent of the seedlings. Interesting. Love the plant for all reasons given.

This is a very prolific self-seeder, but it sure smells nice to pull. This is a special treat for my pet rabbits; I give them a lot of my pruning/weeding scraps for them to process into fertilizer!

I have read that it is hardy in zones 4-10. Stratification aids germination of seeds.

I LOVE licorice. Often chew a leaf or two of this plant for my licorice fix. Self seeds readily. The only trouble is the seedlings look a lot like lemon balm which has threatened to take over my garden in the past and I sometimes weed them out too quickly.

This is a lovely plant for the back of of the herb garden or flower border. The licorice-scented leaves & purplish-blue flowers make a nice addition to herb teas or as garnishes for fruit salads & other summer desserts.

Very easy to grow, as it tolerates a wide range of conditions. I've had it in full sun to light shade, & from good soil to hard-packed areas beneath large deciduous trees & it has performed admirably in both places. Although in some instances the original plant hasn't returned after a few years (perhaps it is naturally a short-lived perennial?), it self-sows so prodigiously that there are always new seedlings to take its place.

Found it by chance at a local nursery--planted it and loved it. It's coming back beautifully this year. I am planning on planting more.

This self-sowing, perennial herb has licorice-scented leaves that are nice in teas. The tall spikes of lavender-blue flowers are pretty, and they attract beneficial insects.

Anise hyssop grows wild here in Saskatchewan (Zone 3). Grows 2 - 3 ft tall here in the wild.
In the garden it gets larger. The bees loves it.

Easily grown from seed or from starts. Root easily in water.
Smells awesome, just like "Good and Plenty" candy.

Bees love it. It's grown 3 feet plus three years in a row. It wants to flop once it's loaded with blooms but it's easy to band the tidy stalks. Smells good. Looks great. Nice blush on the spring growth.

Here in North Texas, the agastache foeniculum planted last spring has come back into bloom. We are having a very cool, wet summer so far and it is not enjoying the damp. I believe when temps rise and things dry out a bit it will be happier. The butterflies prefer this plant to all others in our garden, including butterfly bush!

A plant from a friend, last year it was about 3' tall and beautiful. Self sows very readily (even over our unusually cold winter); I see over 100 babies sprouting up everywhere. A wonderful plant. Colorful, pretty leaves (which you can use to make tea), and should be easy to control by pulling up the seedlings.

This plant grows 6' tall for me. The flowers are not showy, but the bees love it, and it smells good. Leaves and flowers are good in tea and potpourri. Self-seeds prolifically. The first year from seed, it will get 4' tall and bloom.

The plant tends to flop unless grown in full sun, requiring staking.

Honeybees are attracted to the flowers,agastache is known by beekeepers as one of the best honeyplants !

Very fragrant, like licorice, its a very neat and tidy plant and quite long-lived.

Herbaceous perennial, bears its purple flowers in late summer. The foliage is aromatic as implied by the common name and the flowers and leaves are both edible. Butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers. Plant in fertile, well-drained soil. Self sows readily.