Fat is Good - Agastache

Fat is Good

-by Andrew Osyany

Hibiscus

Pulsatilla

Agastache

Agastache

Agastache nepetoides

Agastache nepetoides

This almost became a fashionable genus in the last few years, but even if it did, it just hasn't got the flamboyance to stay in the limelight for long, although that hasn't stopped hellebores from continuing their unwarranted iconic status.

Typical tall, square-stemmed member of the Lamiaceae, the center of its diversity is in the American Southwest and Mexico, though we have two Eastern genera. The foliage is aromatic and the fragrance varies from species to species. The flower arrangement is similar in all that I know: arranged like in a bottle brush. The floristic differences are in the colours and the size of the individual flowers. The colours range from a muted white to blue, purple, pink, magenta and orange. The individual flowers can be as short as 2mm to as long as 25mm and the impact varies accordingly. The plant comes from a small centre with a number of canes making a good cone from which side shoots will branch off. Flowering is mid-summer to end-of-summer.
I like this genus and I have had my hand on 35 accessions over the years. In general, the "muted white"(no one says call me "dingy") and similar shades make no impact, at least among the small-flowered ones, so it is best to stay with the stronger colours. A lot of the so-called hybrids seem rather undistinguishable from the various species. Some of the species are not winners. My capsule summary of Agastache urticifolia gives it a bad rap with a c, if you know what I mean. Also, some of the Southwestern ones are not reliably hardy. Now that I have whetted your appetite, I want to recommend what is the clear winner in my garden: Agastache rupestris. The flowers are at the large end of the scale, a strong deep pink, approaching magenta in visibility, the flowering is generous, and the fragrance of the foliage is very pleasant. I have had this from Sally Walker's seed since 1993.

It does seed around, but this year we don't have too many young plants as Patient Lady was spooked in the spring by the rather numerous impossible-to-identify little seedlings. (Ol' Lazybones firmly believes in the 100% rule: you only pull what you know beyond a shadow of a doubt is a weed, and ignore the nearby sign that says: "Don't just stand there, weed!").

We have also have a dark-flowered agastache from David Tomlinson which, I believe, is the Eastern A. nepetoides, with very good and very dark (though small) purple flowers, making an efficient-looking bottle brush as opposed to the laxer, more showy and clearly non-utilitarian A. rupestris. This one is a fairly aggressive seeder. Typical of the family is that you still see colour while the earlier flowers are busy spilling out the seed. This is also well suited to rough and difficult spots and will successfully duke it out with native and cosmopolitan weeds. We prefer not to have it in our more formal beds.

Most of the agastaches I have grown stand up very well, don't need propping up and cope successfully with dryland conditions.

Unfair

When we moved here in 1997 not only were there no gardens, but there were also no critters beyond chipmunks and squirrels. Bambi moved in a few years ago, and wild turkeys showed up in the neighbourhood in the last 3-4 years. This year, they have started to come into our garden; doing a major dust-bath a couple of months ago in a few dryland beds.

Recently, flocks of turkeys (more than 20 in the flock) have been criss-crossing the property, perhaps enticed earlier by the sunflowers that Sue had planted. The sunflowers are gone now, but they still come to visit.

Last week one morning when Sue woke up, she heard some noises outside, looked and saw a flock in the lawn area between the daylily bed and the point bed, less than 40 feet from the house. Barefoot, she ran out in a mid-length night shift, screaming at the top of her lungs, making ferocious predator-type sounds and waving her arms like griffin wings as she chased them away.

What is unfair?

She did all this without giving me time to get my video camera. Besides, this was the week before Thanksgiving, so first she should have tried to catch one.

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Agastache
Agastache nepetoides	This almost became a fashionable genus in the last few years, but even if it did, it just hasn't got the flamboyance to stay in the limelight for long, although that hasn't stopped hellebores from continuing their unwarranted iconic status. Typical tall, square-stemmed member of the Lamiaceae, the center of its diversity is in the American Southwest and Mexico, though we have two Eastern genera. The foliage is aromatic and the fragrance varies from species to species. The flower arrangement is similar in all that I know: arranged like in a bottle brush. The floristic differences are in the colours and the size of the individual flowers. The colours range from a muted white to blue, purple, pink, magenta and orange. The individual flowers can be as short as 2mm to as long as 25mm and the impact varies accordingly. The plant comes from a small centre with a number of canes making a good cone from which side shoots will branch off. Flowering is mid-summer to end-of-summer. I like this genus and I have had my hand on 35 accessions over the years. In general, the "muted white"(no one says call me "dingy") and similar shades make no impact, at least among the small-flowered ones, so it is best to stay with the stronger colours. A lot of the so-called hybrids seem rather undistinguishable from the various species. Some of the species are not winners. My capsule summary of Agastache urticifolia gives it a bad rap with a c, if you know what I mean. Also, some of the Southwestern ones are not reliably hardy. Now that I have whetted your appetite, I want to recommend what is the clear winner in my garden: Agastache rupestris. The flowers are at the large end of the scale, a strong deep pink, approaching magenta in visibility, the flowering is generous, and the fragrance of the foliage is very pleasant. I have had this from Sally Walker's seed since 1993.
It does seed around, but this year we don't have too many young plants as Patient Lady was spooked in the spring by the rather numerous impossible-to-identify little seedlings. (Ol' Lazybones firmly believes in the 100% rule: you only pull what you know beyond a shadow of a doubt is a weed, and ignore the nearby sign that says: "Don't just stand there, weed!"). We have also have a dark-flowered agastache from David Tomlinson which, I believe, is the Eastern A. nepetoides, with very good and very dark (though small) purple flowers, making an efficient-looking bottle brush as opposed to the laxer, more showy and clearly non-utilitarian A. rupestris. This one is a fairly aggressive seeder. Typical of the family is that you still see colour while the earlier flowers are busy spilling out the seed. This is also well suited to rough and difficult spots and will successfully duke it out with native and cosmopolitan weeds. We prefer not to have it in our more formal beds. Most of the agastaches I have grown stand up very well, don't need propping up and cope successfully with dryland conditions.
Unfair When we moved here in 1997 not only were there no gardens, but there were also no critters beyond chipmunks and squirrels. Bambi moved in a few years ago, and wild turkeys showed up in the neighbourhood in the last 3-4 years. This year, they have started to come into our garden; doing a major dust-bath a couple of months ago in a few dryland beds. Recently, flocks of turkeys (more than 20 in the flock) have been criss-crossing the property, perhaps enticed earlier by the sunflowers that Sue had planted. The sunflowers are gone now, but they still come to visit. Last week one morning when Sue woke up, she heard some noises outside, looked and saw a flock in the lawn area between the daylily bed and the point bed, less than 40 feet from the house. Barefoot, she ran out in a mid-length night shift, screaming at the top of her lungs, making ferocious predator-type sounds and waving her arms like griffin wings as she chased them away. What is unfair? She did all this without giving me time to get my video camera. Besides, this was the week before Thanksgiving, so first she should have tried to catch one.

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