Anise Hyssop is a garden and medicinal herb that draws out the best in Hummingbirds, Butterflies and Bees.

Agastachi foeniculum - Anise Hyssop Photo

Agastache foeniculum

Anise Hyssop originally began as a native upper North American perennial herb which is relatively pest free and has many redeeming culinary and medicinal uses. Anise Hyssop blooms from June to early September as it displays beautiful lavender-blue flowers along its upper stems.

As a member of the Lamiaceae, or mint family, the endless qualities this herb possesses have helped it become a very popular garden herb in upper North America.

Plant Type - Anise Hyssop:

Plant Type: Anise Hyssop is a semi-woody stemmed, upright growing, hardy perennial herb which grows to a height of 2 to 4 feet and about one foot across.
Anise Hyssop blooms to display smallish lavender-blue flowers for 6 inches of along its upper stems, from June to September.

growing Zones:

USDA Growing Zone: 4-9
Sunset Western Climate Zones: Zones A-3; 1-24
Anise Hyssop can easily be grown as an annual in colder regions.

Best Soil Type for growing Anise Hyssop:

The herb grows best in well-drained, reasonably fertile garden soil.

Propagation of and planting Anise Hyssop seeds:

Agastache foeniculum, or Anise Hyssop is easily grown from seed by the inexperienced herb gardener. Anise Hyssop seeds are available online from any number of quality herb seed suppliers.
Plant the Anise Hyssop seeds in your garden in the spring, or you may plant the anise hyssop seeds fall to over winter then germinate when the spring soil warms. Or start your Anise Hyssop seeds inside and transplant them into your outside herb garden when spring weather allows.
Anise Hyssop can be cloned from root or tissue cuttings, but I generally find this unnecessary because it starts so easily from seed.

Harvesting Anise Hyssop:

Leaves of the Anise Hyssop herb can be individually harvested for tea, salads or medicinal use throughout the growing season. For the harvest of individual leaves, clip the leaves first from the bottom of the herb and work upward.
As with most herbs, do not harvest more than 60% of the plant at any one time.
To harvest Anise Hyssop for drying, cut the whole branches 3 to 4 inches from the ground, depending upon the size of the herb.
Harvesting Anise Hyssop seeds: At the end of the growing season after all of the flower petals have fallen from the seed-head, clip a few inches below the seed head and hang upside down in a paper bag until they dry.

Anise Hyssop Drying and storage:

Anise Hyssop is an easy herb to dry.
Hang the bundles of harvested stems upside-down in a dry location, out of direct sunlight until they are dry.
Store the dried anise hyssop leaves in an airtight container and keep it out of direct sunlight.
Be patient! Do not toast the Anise Hyssop leaves in a microwave or conventional oven. Try a food dehydrator.