falling out of love with agastache

There was a time when I was head-over-heels with agastache. After all, this genus a lot going for it: fragrant leaves, drought and heat tolerance, nice stature, colorful flowers, long bloom season, edible flowers, and significantly, all this in a native plant. There are a lot of cultivars out there, and clearly these plants are beloved by many. One company even says that agastache is its specialty.

But in my garden, agastache is fraught with problems. Oh, it started out well enough. ‘Double Bubble’ grew tall and lusty, with a mouthwatering fragrance if not exactly bubble gum. Agastache neomexicana grew strongly with a minty fragrance. ‘Desert Sunrise’ had lusciously colored flowers and anise fragrance. ‘Firebird’ grew compactly and vigorously and was loved by hummingbirds. ‘Ava’ grew like gangbusters the first year it was planted and by fall was covered thickly with red-purple flowers. ‘Salmon and Pink’ has grown compactly, blooming early with thick heads of bloom. ‘Orange Flare’ put up with hot dry conditions and pumped out a steady trickle of bloom. Agastache cana grew steadily despite no water and put forth a nice fall show.

The second year, ‘Double Bubble’ put out strong stems with the promise of glory, but these ended in empty calyces and no flowers. ‘Desert Sunrise’ did the same, although there were a couple of deformed blooms among the calyces. Agastache cana broke to pieces after the first strong wind and had the tendency to yellow, grow slowly or simply die outright unexpectedly. ‘Double Bubble’ died that winter, as did many A. cana. Agastache neomexicana grew to a weedy appearance and non-showy flowers.

This year has similar problems. Although I have two plants of ‘Ava’ growing side-by side, one plant decided to die just as it began to bloom.


‘Desert Sunrise’ has only produced empty calyces (I was told it was due to lack of water, so this year it has been irrigated regularly and copiously all season).


One A. cana suddenly turned yellow and died mid-spring, while another which grew vigorously last year has only grown a few inches. ‘Orange Flare’, ‘Salmon and Pink’, A. rupestris and ‘Firebird’ are growing well this year, but I’ve noticed that the flowers fade to a dull color after a hot sunny day (which is mostly what we get here). ‘Orange Flare’ in particular, though with richly colored flowers in the early season, has become quite faded. Photo is actually color enhanced (unintentionally by the camera) to look more colorful than reality.



‘Salmon and Pink’ looks like curtains faded in the sun. ‘Firebird’ has been the most reliable in terms of growth and bloom, but I do wish the flowers were a brighter color. Still it’s the one I’m most likely to keep.




Perhaps my garden conditions are simply not what the plants desire. But in my conceit, I believe I am a pretty good gardener, and it is rare that I can’t figure out what a plant wants. Perhaps my plants have gotten a virus of some sort, or there is a strange fungus in the soil. Whatever the case is, agastache is going to need replacing. Which makes me sad.