Anise Hyssop: A Friend to Bees

If you’re keen to help bees and butterflies—and as a gardener, of course you are—there’s a plant you’ll most definitely want to add to your garden: the beautiful Agastache foeniculum or anise hyssop.

Anise hyssop is known by a range of other names too—from licorice mint to blue giant hyssop—but it’s most common name comes from its similarities to plants in the anise and hyssop families, although it isn’t technically related to either.

Easy to grow, easy to love

Anise hyssop blooms all throughout the summer and stays beautiful for weeks on end. You’ll love it for its delightful, 3- to 6-inch blue blooms, but you’ll love it even more when you discover that it’s an incredible pollinator magnet. Butterflies, bumble bees, honey bees, hummingbirds and moths are immensely fond of anise hyssop and it’s particularly noted as being a splendiferous plant for bees. (It’s even been called a “wonder honey plant.”)

Best of all, anise hyssop is a breeze to grow! It’s a drought-tolerant plant that likes well-drained soil and full sun, but a little shade is workable too. Anise hyssop belongs to the mint family and it definitely displays the familial characteristic of spreading and expanding on its own once established. Be sure to keep it reined in if you don’t want it to go places on its own. Anise hyssop is only hardy to zone 4, but you can still grow it as an annual in colder zones.

A horticultural superstar

In 2019, the International Herb Association gave anise hyssop and other Agastache family members the coveted Herb of the Year™ designation. When choosing Herb of the Year™, the IHA considers the plant’s medicinal, culinary and decorative impacts. Anise hyssop is sometimes used as an addition to desserts, salads and beverages, and its delicate beauty adds immensely to the overall ambiance of a garden space.

And if you still need convincing, dear northern gardeners, let me share this tidbit: anise hyssop is also deer resistant, so you won’t need to worry that those nosy white-tailed garden visitors will deprive your pollinators of their preferred plant.

Lastly, you don’t have to be limited only to anise hyssop! Try others in the Agastache family, like Korean mint (Agastache rugosa), which is very similar to anise hyssop and is the one I’m growing this year. You can also try the many types of hummingbird mint, but some of these are less hardy and not as well suited to zone 4.

I hope you’ll try anise hyssop this summer—your local bees and butterflies will thank you!

Samantha Johnson is the author of several books, including Vegetable Gardening for Beginners: Learn to Grow Anything No Matter Where You Live (New Shoe Press, 2023). She writes frequently about pets, gardening and farm life. Visit her online portfolio at http://samanthajohnson.contently.com.