Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is a native culinary delicacy that is very easy to grow from seed and a breeze to maintain. The crushed leaves and flowers smell and taste like licorice and are immensely popular with bees.
Growing Instructions
No pre-treatment required. Sow seed at soil surface. Do not let seedling dry out while it is establishing.
Perhaps worth noting is that anise hyssop hybridizes readily with all members of the Agastache family, including a number of cultivars and some non-native varieties that in some areas are now considered naturalized. As an open-pollinated species, it is possible and increasingly common for a wild-type stand of A. foeniculum to be pollinated by a different Agastache variety, producing hybrid seed. Hybridization is especially common in urban settings, where ornamental and medicinal hyssop varieties are abundant. Although hybridization is difficult to avoid, maintaining isolation distances of 5,000 meters or more between your stand and other varieties can help. Non-native Agastaches often winter-kill as they are hardy to zone 5 and up. Non-native Agastaches are not considered invasive species and although hybridization is a nuisance, they are nonetheless equally excellent nectar sources for pollinators.