7 Herbs for a Cutting Garden

I like to grow flowers for cutting bouquets but when I make a bouquet, I generally always add some herb or another.  They provide color, texture and scent to a lovely arrangement.  So here are some of the herbs I grow that make great bouquets.  And since some are perennials, you will get cuttings all season.

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is a member of the mint family and a wonderful butterfly and bee plant.  The foliage is large leafed, but the cone-shape purple flower heads are gorgeous and make a long-lasting attention grabbing addition to a bouquet.  And the flowers are totally edible with an anise or licorice scent and taste.

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) in the traditional style is not a good cutting herb, as it wilts easily.  But the smaller leafed varieties, like Thai Basil, Cinnamon Basil, or Dark Opal Basil will all look good and hold up well to a bouquet.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis) also known as Pot Marigold, this plant sports puffball flower heads in yellow and orange. If you want to grow it for cuttings, try 'Prince' or 'Kablouna' which are taller cultivars.

Dill (Anethum graveolens) and Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) both have a wonderful feathery foliage which makes great filler in a bouquet, not to mention they are both tasty to cook with!

Lavender (Lavendula) comes in many varieties.  One can grow Lavender Lady from seed and it will bloom in the first year.  But if you want a taller stem for arrangements, try English Lavender.  If you want a textured leaf with a funky flower, try French Lavender, also known as Lavender Cotton.

Any Mint (Mentha) will work in a bouquet and can make tea.  The strong stems makes them good in a vase and you can chose any number of scents and flavors, like chocolate mint, apple mint (fuzzy leaves), Spearmint, peppermint, orange mint and others.



Sage (Salvia) has a number of varieties, but the most common is Garden Sage with silver-gray leaves  and purple flowers in spring that are edible and attractive  The flowers taste musky and savory and the leaves look good fresh and dried.

Anise Hyssop - Mini Herb of the Week

I have posted about this plant before, but since it is one of the plants we will have at the Plant Sale for the Garden Club of Villa Park, I thought I would focus on it once more.

This flowering plant has spikes of lavender florets that bloom all though summer.  It is a great nectar plant for bees and butterflies and a must for a native garden or pollinator garden.

The mint-like leaves have toothed edges that taste and smell like licorice with a bright almost minty edge to the overall flavor.

To Grow

Anise Hyssop grows very well from seed, but if you want a long flowering version the first year, you want to get a nursery plant.  It prefers full sun, but will tolerate partial shade.  It likes a moderately moist, well-drained soil that is high in fertility.  You will want o spread compost around the base of mature plants in spring to give them a nutritional boost.

The plant blooms beginning in June and will continue all the way into September.  The flowers stay fresh and lively on the plant for up to 4 weeks.  They are a medium purple, shaped like little ears of corn.  To grows quickly and can gain 2 feet of height in just two months, so plant it with some space to expand.  It is a perennial so it will come back year after year to spread it glory and attract those butterflies.

To Use

Make a wonderful chilled astringent by steeping a Tablespoon of crushed leaves and flowers in a half-cup of boiling water. Leave covered until cool, then add the strained liquid to 1/2 cup of witch hazel extract.  It will act as an astringent to tighten pores if splashed on your face after washing and before moisturizing.  You can make a batch and keep it in the refrigerator for a week.

Black Bean Salad with Anise Hyssop

Minced Anise hyssop leaves emphasize the nutty flavor of black beans.  You'll want to make this salad just before you serve it so the black beans do not discolor all the other ingredients.

2 cups cooked back beans, rinsed if canned
1/4 pound cooked green beans, cut into one inch pieces
1 medium red or yellow tomato, chopped fine
1 shallot, minced
1 Tbls fresh onion or garlic chives, minced
1 Tbls anise hyssop leaves, minced
1 tsp anise seed
1 Tbls balsamic vinegar
1 Tbls olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine both beans, tomato, shallot chives, anise hyssop and anise seed.

In a small bowl whisk together the vinegar and oil.  pour over the bean mixture and toss well to combine.  Serve in a nest of lettuce leaves immediately.

Facing the Music - What does the herb garden look like this year

There are no good overall shots of the garden as yet. I sat on my camera and broke the screen, so now I cannot tell what I am taking pictures of and I cannot change the settings.  Until I get a new camera, I can take outdoor photos, medium range, full sun only because that was the setting when I sat on it.

Here are some details of the garden plants.  There were some situations I prayed would not happen, some I expected and others that were a complete surprise.

We will start with some good news.  The Catmint (and other mints) are thriving, not even a polar vortex can keep mint down!

catmint / catnip

The whole row looked as good as these couple of plants. This chives got very thick, like German leek chives, I do not know why.  The flowers are not as purple as in past years, more of a pink shade.  I took this image and promptly cut off all the flowers for vinegar!

chives

The dill did come up from seed, some from last season self-sow and some I threw down this spring, but the early heat made them leggy and thin and they are falling over already.

dill

Now to the expected bad news.  This winter was too harsh for lavender.  Even though I do not trim them in the fall and even though I piled mulch on them after the first frost, they were largely dead this spring.  In hopes of encouraging growth from the base, I trimmed them a month ago.  However, well... you can see the results.

dead lavender

end plant from above photo with some small growth!!

More dead lavender, but one plant has made a healthy comeback.

I prayed that the snow cover would protect and preserve my thyme plants when the weather turned bitter, but this was not to be.  My lemon thyme fared best, those plants int he middle of the row arte still alive.  The ends of the rows are all dead and have been ruthlessly yanked from the ground so there is no photographic evidence of their demise.  However, the lowest growing thymes seem to have fared the best.  There was some winter kill in the creeping thyme.  The red creeping thyme, almost a miniature thyme seems to have fully recovered from winter with few dead stems.  It is now a carpet taking over the vacated places of its neighbor plants.

common thyme with winter kill

creeping lemon thyme with winter kill

Creeping red no death at all!

The peppermint, of course wintered over, but it was stressed and this spring was plagued by an infestation of bugs that are damaging the leaves and leaving black spots.

Black stem Peppermint

 From a distance you cannot see the damage, but if you look at a close up of the same plant you can see the infestation and the leaf damage.,  See the white bug there in about the middle of the photo?

Peppermint

The plant that surprised me with its inability to survive the winter was sage.  A woody shrub it is normally my first plant to green in the spring after the salad burnet and chives, but this year some plant stalks were totally dead.  Many of the plants did spring new growth from the crown, but they are in sorry shape and there was no spring harvest of sage this year. (I love the sweetness of spring sage leaves and use them in salads and to make vinegar.)

Russian sage growing from the crown the stalks still dead.

The plants at the top of the picture are just dead.

Common sage again many dead branches

I have many more pictures of dead sage, but I think this is enough carnage.  Now back to some good news.  The rue is fine and looking a nice bright green and flowering (a bit early).

Rue

The Golden Anise Hyssop I got after seeing the plant at the Arboretum last year not only made it through the winter, but it self seeded some wonderful little friends.

Golden Anise Hyssop

At first when I came into the garden and saw these plants, I thought they were lemon balm because of the bright green color, but when I realized the lemon balm should be on the other end of the garden.  I panicked thinking they had been relocated by wild life or water, but then I realized it was anise hyssop and I was pleased that my single plant (lower left corner of photo) had made so many babies. There is hope and growth after the long winter after all! 

In posting these photos I noticed something I did not while I was taking the pictures.  There are a lot of weeds in there.  I need to get to work!

12 Unique Herbs to Try in 2014 - Herb of the Week

In March 2010 I posted a list of five herbs to try in 2010 if you had not tried them before.  They were:

1.     Mexican oregano  (Lippia graveolens)

2.     Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis)

3.     Ezapote (Dyshania ambrosioides)

4.     Purple Ruffled Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Purple Ruffles’)

5.     Tri-color Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘tri-color’)

To read the set of blogs on these great herbs visit my original blog on my website.

This year as I was looking for new plants I might want to try around a home, I strayed from the traditional herbs just a bit, but I thought you might enjoy the 12 unique and interesting plants I discovered on this journey.  If I knew of a grower that supplies these plants I have included it.  Some are more commonly available and should be at your local garden center.

#1 Arugula – Roquette (Eruca sativa) -- syn. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa or Brassica eruca L.)

This is actually an “old” herb gaining new life.  It is known by several sceintfic names including Eruca sativa, but also E. vesicaria subsp. sativa or Brassica eruca L. You can obtain the seed from non-hybrid heirloom seed companies and will often find it under the old name Rocket or Roquette rather than the more recently common arugula.  Thanks to the Food Network and other cooking programs it has regained some of its glory as a salad herb and I am happy to see it.  If you like mixed greens this is a great choice. Arugula can usually be harvested as early as 4 weeks after planting from seed.  The leaves of the Arugula plant add a tangy/peppery flavor to any meal and in addition to use in salads can be a green mixed with spinach for a base for saucy dishes instead of noodles, rice or pasta.

#2 Mandarin Twist Pot Marigold

Park Seed Company has a great new Calendula (Pot marigold) variety that I will be trying this year.  It is called Mandarin Twist Pot Marigold.  You can get 50 seeds for 1.95 which is a great price.  This will add a nice splash of color to a green herb landscape and you get all the medicinal benefits as well.  According to Parks, this is a compact but very well-branched and free-flowering variety with double blooms of deep, rich orange. They stand out brilliantly in any setting, and hold well in garden or vase. Blooming all summer and well into fall on easy-care, floriferous plants, these flowers are a joy!  Remember to give these pants room when planting as they can get 10 inches high and will spread to almost that wide.  Great in a container if you do not overcrowd them early in the season.

#3 Passion Flower 

This is a viney plant with the most glorious flowers.  I have been dying to grow it for several years, but it is not the best container plant and I just did not want to put it out in the production garden where I would never see it (I am at the production garden in the dark a lot.)  It is a climber and will work on a trellis along a sunny wall.  The plant has medicinal properties too.   You use the whole aerial portion.  Friends of mine have  tinctured the leaves and young stems, with some tendrils.  The fruit can be saved for tea and other flavorings.  I posted a blog on Passion flower back in April 2011.

#4 Hot lips red flowering sage (Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips')

This is more of an ornamental salvia rather than a culinary one, but what a great addition to the border or among the perennials. According to Dave’s Garden (an online source I go to for information on hardiness zones and proper names for plants)  the  common name is Autumn Sage scientific name Salvia x jamensis 'Hot Lips' a member of the Lamiaceae family.  However he recognized that a synonym exists calling it  Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips' (Hot Lips Little-leaf Sage) This was the name I first discovered it under and is usually how it is listed in plant catalogs.

Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips' originally located near the Chiapas area of Mexico and was introduced by Richard Turner of the Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco, California. This is a very cool looking bi-color salvia bearing red tips and white lips. In the hotter months of summer it may have all red and all white flowers on the same plant due to warmer night temperatures, but when the night temperature drops in the fall the flowers will return to their bi-color state. Great for use in borders and beds.

Considered a wild (yet domesticated) this plant is was supposedly introduced to Richard Turner by his maid, who brought it from her home in Mexico. The fast-growing, 30" tall x 6' wide clump is adorned with stunning bicolor flowers with red tips and white lips...attractive to hummingbirds. When the nights warm in summer, the new flowers are all red with an occasional solid white one. As fall approaches, the flowers again will be bicolored red and white. Even if your school colors aren't red and white, this is truly a "must-have" salvia.  It is hardy in zone 8 to 11, so if you want to grow it in the Midwest, you will need to treat it as an annual (like Pineapple Sage.)

They love a hot, dry spot such as a concrete driveway/sidewalk/or south-facing slope. They can tolerate a bit of moisture, but keeping the soil wet will cause rot.  I found the best price for this plant at Santa Rosa Gardens in California, but I would make sure you talk to them before ordering if you live in the Midwest as a shipping time would be critical.

I have to admit that although I grow black stem peppermint and a fuzzy species of spearmint in my production garden but I have never been a fan of most mint plants, even the flavored ones like Chocolate Mint and Ginger Mint.  However this year I discovered an article by Jim Long discussing mints and discovered a hybridizer named Jim Westerfield from Freeeburg, Illinois (about 5 hours south of me near St. Louis.)   His hybrid mint plants are totally unique and the scents are worth experimenting with.  Here were two I think are worth checking into.

#5 Jim’s Candy Lemon Lime Mint 

A hybrid mint created by Jim Westerfield of Freeburg, Illinois.  This is a cross of lemon and lime mint that is the perfect flavor for me a lover of all things lemon! The leaf margins have a reddish tinge giving them a unique look for a mint. Hardy in zones 4 to 11 it is easy to grow and likes almost any soil. I like anything lemon, so this is at the top of my “to try” list for 2014. 

# 6 Italian Spice Mint 

Another hybrid of Jim Westerfield of Freeburg, IL this mint has hints of oregano and marjoram.  The craftsman says it reminds him of the spicy aroma of the Italian grocery store he worked in as a child.  A savory mint, this can be added to butter, roasted garlic and cream then tossed with angel hair pasta.  It is an excellent pasta seasoning and considered excellent in any Italian dish.  This one looks more like a traditional mint, making it a garden surprise for anyone who touches it as the mint scent is very faint.  Hardy in zones 4 to 11, like all mints it will do well in most soil types.  It does require full sun.

FYI you can get Jim Westerfield’s hybrid mints from http://www.fragrantfields.com/ and www.richters.com

#7 White Anise Hyssop (Agastache Foeniculum ‘snow spike’) 

Outsidepride.com has a has a white Anise hyssop called snow spike that is worth adding to your garden.  Anise Hyssop is a large showy herb with a great scent and wonderful ability to attract pollinators.  Bees, especially bumble bees love it.  I have always grown the traditional blue Anise hyssop, but when I was crafting a moon garden I decided this plant with white flowers would be a great accent in the silver leaf border I was creating.  Check it out yourself!

Agastache Foeniculum 'Snow Spike' has tall flower spikes that are full of white little flowers that bloom at different times. The white Anise Hyssop plant usually reaches 24 inches in height.  The licorice-like scent is soothing and refreshing in tea.  The flowers are very nice for cutting and adding to fresh flower arrangements. Growing Hyssop from seed is easy and rewarding. Anise Hyssop seeds can be directly started outdoors in a prepared seedbed. Press the herb seeds into the soil but do not cover them. The white Hyssop plant is not picky about the soil, but it does prefer to be in full sun to partial shade.

# 8 Nettle

Nettle is an under grown herb.  Although since it can cause contact dermatitis in its natural plant state, I understand why.  However, once cut and dried or cooked the sting is removed and the plant has many medicinal qualities.  The pretty white flowers of Devil's Nettle (Achillea var. m.) make it a pretty addition to an herb garden (avoid this if you have small children in your garden or skin sensitivities.)  I keep my nettle plants in a separate bed so that I am properly suited-up before harvesting.  It likes drier conditions so you can grow it in a rock garden. A tea made from this herb is useful for stomach ailments. The tea is also good for severe colds. Craft the tea by boiling 1 ounce of dried leaves with one pint of water and sweetening with honey. A hardy perennial for zones 5-10 you can easily grow this plant in the Midwest.  You can pick up the seeds for this plant at Seedman.com 

# 9 Sweet Annie (Artemisa annua) 

With the herb of the year being Artemesia, I had to put at least one Artemesia plant in my list.  Sweet Annie is an excellent multi use herb for all gardens. A graceful and sweetly fragrant annual with tall stems 4'-7' tall, with fine bright green ferny foliage. Though most often grown for fresh and dried arrangements and wreath making (it holds color and fragrance very well) it also makes a graceful accent in the back of a flowerbed or a pretty quick screen, especially behind other container plantings. "Sweet Annie" has a wide variety of uses both medicinal and for handcrafting and makes a nice addition to potpourri and sachets.

This is a tall ferny green plant that grows to over seven feet high and four feet wide in one year! Excellent for back borders or any area that you want to give a tropical look and feel. Sweet Annie has thick strong woody stems and branches out like a shrub. The flowers are tiny and olive green and can't really be seen unless you look hard. However Sweet Annie is grown for its foliage and mostly for its lovely aromatic scent which can fill the whole garden when the breeze rustles it branches. It has been used for centuries in its dried form in wreaths and other aroma projects.  Sweet Annie is one of the best natural air fresheners around. Have an aroma you want to get rid of? Just wave a sprig of Sweet Annie in the air and it freshens the whole area with a sweet appealing smell eliminating anything else. Don't use air fresheners with unknown chemical ingredients use a natural herb to do the work for you. The plant dries very well and the will last for years all you have to do is gently move a piece and the aroma bursts forth. It is excellent for use in wreaths and other aroma projects. 

#10 Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium)

This plant is a must for anyone suffering from migraine headaches. It will not cure migraines, but as long as the herb is taken regularly it will keep them from coming back as often. Feverfew inhibits blood clotting and is beneficial for persons with cardiovascular diseases. Take after consulting with a physician. Make a tea by boiling two teaspoons of dried leaves per cup of water and let steep for 15 minutes. This perennial plant hearty in zones 5 to 9 and will grow best in full sun.

I found this plant during my research into good herbs and plants to grow on the farm (we intend to have sheep and I was researching ways that having sheep could benefit my herb garden.)  Pasturing sheep on mint makes a manure that is very good for herbs by the way!  This plant popped up as a protein alternative for range animals.  I use it with my “Prairie Pile.”  I worked many years as a volunteer at a Prairie restoration and as a result I collected seeds (accidentally mostly) on my clothing.  I tossed all these into a compost mound on the corner of my herb garden property and now have an interesting pile of native prairie plants.  I added this one to the pile when I had a chance to get a live plant. 

#11 Wild Bergamot  or Wild Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)

This wildflower in the mint family (Lamiaceae) is widespread and abundant as a native plant in much of North America. It is perennial with bright lavender blooms and a spicy scent. Used by Native Americans to soothe bronchial complaints and ease colds.  Bees love it and are attracted to it.  It is an herbaceous perennial that grows from slender creeping rhizomes, thus commonly occurring in large clumps. The plants are typically up to 3 ft tall, with a few erect branches. Its leaves are about 2-3 in long, lance-shaped, and toothed. Its compact purple flower clusters are solitary at the ends of branches. Each cluster is about 1.5 in (4 cm) long, containing about 20–50 flowers. The light purple color of the flowers is a great foil to the traditional Bergamot which is deep red. Wild bergamot often grows in rich soils in dry fields, thickets, and clearings, usually on limy soil. The plants generally flower from June to September.

Monarda fistulosa ranges from Quebec to the Northwest Territories and British Columbia, south to Georgia and Texas.  My interest in it started because it is considered a medicinal plant by many Native Americans including the Menominee, the Ojibwe, and the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk). It was used most commonly to treat colds, and was frequently made into a tea.  Native who grow medicinal plants do rely on it  during the cold and flu season. The tea may be sweetened with honey, as it tends to be quite strong.

#12 Italian Everlasting  or Curry Plant (Helichrysum italicum) 

As the name suggests, the narrow, silvery-grey leaves of this splendid, dense, dwarf sub-shrub, growing to 2 feet tall by 3 feet wide, smell strongly of curry. 

Though the leaves are edible, it is really not used for cooking, rather for its ornamental appeal and the essential oil derived from the plant.   An easy to care for perennial that prefers poor soil and will thrive in rock gardens and xeriscapes. It is hardy only to zone 8 but is not considered  frost tender, so I think one could grow it in a container or a sheltered place and have it last well into the fall, but I would still treat it as an annual.  It features clusters of yellow blooms in Summer  that retain their color after picking and are used in dried flower arrangements.  The plant is the source for the famous Helichrysum Essential Oil. The plant produces an oil from its blossoms which are used for medicinal purposes. It is anti-inflammatory, fungicidal, and astringent. It soothes burns and raw chapped skin. It is used as a fixative in perfumes and has an intense fragrance.

Bonus Plant –

Illinois Bundle flower (Desmanthus illinoensis) Another good drought tolerant plant (can you tell I have not had the rain I wanted the last two growing seasons!?) This one prospers in meadows, roadsides, and tall grass prairie plantings. It produces fruit in the form of dark-brown clusters of pods. Due to it being high in protein, it is readily eaten by livestock and wildlife. Fixes high amounts of nitrogen in the soil and can rejuvenate worn-out soil. It also attracts bees, butterflies and birds.

Illinois bundleflower is rated by some authorities as our most important native legume and is included in range revegetation programs since the species is readily eaten by livestock. The seeds contain 38 percent protein on a dry weight basis, which compares favorably with soybeans.  Seeds are desirable for wild birds. The plant is considered a nutritious and palatable browse for wildlife.  Pawnee Indians used leaf tea as wash for itching. Hopi used seeds placed in eye for conjunctivitis.  A perennial growing to 3-6 ft. tall with cream colored flowers. Hardy to zone 5 this plant has fern-like foliage. To reduce moisture loss, the compound leaves fold together at night, and they close partially during hot sunny days During the morning and evening, when sunlight is less intense, the compound leaves orient themselves in the direction of the sun in order to maximize the reception of its light. 

You can get quality seed for this plant from Prairie Moon Nursery located in southwest Minnesota. They specialize in Prairie plants of the Midwest and originated here in Illinois!

Anise hyssop - Herb of the Week

Last week I visited the Morton Arboretum and photographed a Golden Anise hyssop.  I love this plant, but had never seen a version with yellow leaves.  That was when I realized I had not done an herb of the week on this amazing bee and butterfly attracting plant.  

 

So this week’s Herb of the Week is 

                Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum).

The Native Americans found many uses for this North American native plant. The Cheyenne drank a tea of this herb to relieve a "dispirited heart." The Cree included the flowers herb in medicine bundles, and the Ojibwa made a protective charm of it.  The dried plant has been burned as an incense. Because of its height it makes a great back border in contemporary gardens and if you love butterflies in the garden, this plant will attract them, along with hummingbirds.  There are some who believe it has protective qualities and should be planted near the back door. It's a wonderful addition to the cottage garden.

This native perennial plant is 2-3½' tall, branching occasionally near the apex. The four-angled stems are light green.  The leaves are up to 4" long and 2" across, broadly lanceolate in shape they can end up a bit rounded in a mature plant.  They edges have a slight serration. They look a bit like catnip, another mint-family member, but larger.  The upper surface of the leaves is conspicuously veined and dull green, while the lower surface is white. The foliage has an anise scent. A member of the Mint family (Lamiaceae) they do have a square stem.  The small purple flowers are arranged in dense whorls that are crowded along the spike becoming more colorful toward its tips. The flowers bloom in scattered locations along the spikes for about 1-2 months from mid- to late summer. 

Almost any form of bee is drawn to Anise Hyssop flowers so watch if to see a parade of honeybees, bumblebees, digger bees, masked bees and Halictid bees along with and various butterflies, skippers, and moths. Deer, squirrels and other mammals  normally avoid consuming this plant as the anise scent of the foliage is repugnant to them. The anise scent may also deter some leaf-chewing insect species.

To Grow

The preference is full or partial sun, and will inhabit moist to dry conditions. The soil can consist of loam, clay-loam, or contain some rocky material. Anise Hyssop is generally disease resistant, but can drop leaves in a drought.  Occasionally, slugs and insects will feed on the leaves, creating holes. This member of the Mint family is more resistant to drought than many others.

Typical habitats include openings in dry upland forests, upland areas of prairies, scrubby barrens, and thickets. Cultivated forms of Anise Hyssop are often grown in flower gardens; these cultivars are often hybrids and vary in their fidelity to the wild forms of this plant. 

One popular variety of Anise hyssop Agastache scrophulariaefolia (Purple Giant Hyssop), has flowers with similar coloration to Anise Hyssop. However, the foliage of Purple Giant Hyssop doesn't have an anise scent and the undersides of its leaves are green, rather than white. Purple Giant Hyssop is hairier than Anise Hyssop, and it tends to be a taller plant. 

Anise hyssop is easily grown from seed, either by starting indoors as you would tomatoes or by sprinkling outside in spring or fall. Fall-planted seed will remain dormant and then sprout in the spring; this is the way mature plants sow their seed, after all. You can also winter sow Anise hyssop seeds. Your established anise hyssop will produce plenty of volunteer plants for you to share with friends or use to expand your planting. Fortunately, they’re extremely easy to transplant. Plantings can be increased by root division, too.

Seeds require light to germinate, so barely cover at room temperature to germinate 5-30 days. Keep soil moist but not sopping.  Don't put in direct sun. Transplant to 1 ft apart in rich soil and full sun or partial shade - stalks will be stronger in full sun. It might need staking in partial shade. It will thrive in full sun in well-drained garden soil

This perennial generally blooms the second year from seeds but might bloom the first year if it is happy. Cut it back by 1/3 after blooming, and it will get bushier and rebloom. Plants get 3-6 feet tall. Anise hyssop is hardy from zone 5 to 9.  It self-seeds readily and its roots travel underground, but it is not too aggressive. Deer avoid it, but rabbits generally do not.

To Use

Herb lovers claim it as a culinary herb, using the fresh or dried leaves in tea and crumbling the tangy flowers over fruit salad.  Bees love the flowers, and so do herb crafters, as blossoms retain their fragrance and color when dried.  As a result be sure to use it as a cut flower and in potpourri, and the flowers dry nicely to navy blue (the dried seed heads look pretty nice in the winter garden, too). 

This herb smells like black licorice and in fact has some chemicals in common with licorice, but the scent also has notes of lemon, pine, sage, black pepper, and camphor giving it a complex scent and flavor. The leaves or flowers are edible and can be used to sweeten tea or flavor sugar or quickbreads and muffins (add 1/2 cup chopped fresh flowers). Trim the flower heads and use fresh or dried in a tisane (herb tea), or separate the tiny flowers from the main stem to dot over the top of a fruit salad or garnish a summer cucumber soup.

Steep the leaves in milk for flavoring when making ice cream. You can make anise-hyssop honey by putting some dried leaves in a jar, pouring warm honey over them, and leaving the leaves in the honey for a month so the honey to soak up the herb taste. Make some delicious butter cookies by adding 2 tablespoons of the fresh minced flowers to a basic butter cookie dough. The flowers make a nice garnish for iced tea too.

Steep 2 teaspoons of fresh or 1 teaspoon of dried herb in a mug of hot water for 7-10 minutes for a slightly sedating and tranquilizing tea.  Anise Hyssop is native to the US, so Native Peoples used it regularly in madicinal brews.  The Cheyenne drank a tepid tea of anise hyssop to relieve the pain from coughing with chest colds. This herb produces sweating, and the Cheyenne also used it for sweatlodges. The Cree added it to regular tea to improve the taste, the Dakota and Omaha people flavored cooked foods with it, and the Iroquois made it into a wash against the itching of poison ivy.  It's also a traditional poultice for burns.

Medicinal Properties

Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum leaves have antibacterial properties and are taken as an infusion to alleviate coughs and colds. Anise is a carminative, warming digestive aid. So beyond the medical uses mentioned above among Native American Peoples, it has other well practiced uses, like Anise Hyssop clears excessive dampness in the stomach and spleen and heaviness in the chest. It is used as a preventive for heat stroke and summer colds.

The leaves are used topically as a compress for angina, burns, fever, headache, heatstroke, and herpes. The plant is excellent in baths and foot-baths for simply cooling off or for treating sunburn and fungal conditions such as athlete’s foot and yeast overgrowth. I use it in tinctures for colds, sore throats, flu, and respiratory problems. I craft salves with an anise hyssop base for wound healing. Poultices made by mashing fresh leaves into a paste and applying to wounds and injuries is also very effective due to is antibacterial properties. 

Recipes

Strawberry Anise Hyssop Jelly

An Original Recipe by Christine, lifesalasagna.blogspot.com

Makes about 8-9 4-ounce jars (about 4 half pints)

4 lbs fresh strawberries

2 cups sugar

12-14 large (24-30 small) Anise Hyssop leaves gently rinsed and patted dry

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, strained

Stack Anise Hyssop leaves on a cutting board and slice into wide 1/4-3/8" chiffonade.  Add to large 6-8 quart pot with the sugar, give it a stir. Wash, trim and chop your strawberries, adding them to the pot, and stirring occasionally as you work. Place the pot on the stove and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.  When the berries are starting to cook and just before they reach a simmer, give them a good smashing with a potato masher or back of a large spoon. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir gently, occasionally.

Remove from heat and begin draining berries in small batches.  Stir gently with fork and remove all of the Anise Hyssop herbs and unripened strawberries that did not cook down.  Do not press solids as you do not want any in your liquid. Return liquid to the stove on high heat and bring to a full boil. Boil liquid down by about half, stirring often. This will take about 20-25 minutes. 

Return the strawberry solids to the pot and add the lemon juice. Stir well and reduce heat until a gentle simmer can be maintained. Stir frequently so that it does not scorch until a small dab of jam placed on a frozen plate, and returned to the freezer for about a minute, is firm.  It will not gel but will have a nice, non-runny consistency. This will take about 5-7 minutes.

Not canning:  Pour into sterile hot jars and allow to cool before refrigerating. Use within 1-2 weeks.

Canning:  Pour into sterile hot 4 ounce jars, 3/8" headspace and process for 5 minutes.

You can make this in smaller batches by reducing the recipe and sticking to proportions:  1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 4-6 Anise Hyssop leaves to each 1 lb of strawberries.

Anise Hyssop Syrup

20 leaves (1 handful) anise hyssop

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Directions

Combine all ingredients in small saucepan over high heat.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain and refrigerate.

Cough drops

You must make a syrup with sugar, not honey to make cough drops, but you can use raw sugar or brown sugar instead of white sugar and it will work just as well.

Instead of pouring your strained hot syrup into a bottle, keep boiling it. Every minute or so, drop a bit into cold water. When it forms a hard ball in the cold water, immediately take off the heat. Pour your very thick syrup into a buttered flat dish. Cool, then cut into small squares.

A dusting of powdered sugar will keep them from sticking. Store airtight in a cool place.

Strawberry Anise Cocktail

1/2 oz anise hyssop syrup

3 oz vermouth

1 oz vodka

2 ripe strawberries, washed and stems removed

Directions

Place ice and all ingredients except the strawberries into a cocktail shaker.  Place a fine mesh strainer over the cocktail shaker and press the strawberries through it with the back of a spoon to "juice" them into the shaker.  Shake until nice and cold and strain into a glass.

Fragrance Garden at the Morton Arboretum - Herb(s) of the Week

This week I stopped by the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.  I drive past it everyday and stop in on my way home several times a week if my own garden permits.

The weather Monday was spectacular.  The sun was out there was a gentle breeze and the temperature was only in the high 70s.  For Illinois at the end of July this is heaven!  As a result I grabbed my dinner and when the the arboretum to enjoy the outdoors.  After eating I strolled the area and stumbled across the Fragrance Garden.  Located a the north end of Joy Path, this quiet little oasis was just the perfect spot to stop. I did not have my camera with me, so these images were taken with my camera on my phone.

There are several benches and resting areas and frog pond mixed in among the plantings.

This was the view from one of the shaded benches.  I liked the fact that this garden had a number of herbal plantings.  The flowers were mostly spent so I did not find much fragrance in a overcome your senses sort of way, but the bees and the butterflies were everywhere!

I loved the overall look of the bee balm plantings.  There were two clusters a traditional scarlet and a pink.

Pink Supreme Dwarf Bee Balm

traditional red

If the pink was a dwarf, I wonder what the regular size of this hybrid is, because it was waist high. There were catmints, and creeping thyme and this chive-like plant that I have noticed is all the rage in landscape plantings this year.  I had been wondering about the name and I now know it is: Summer Beauty German Garlic. A Allium variety with a large purple flower head and all the scent of traditional chives.

I wandered the garden slowly on the brick path and took in the view from several different benches.

The most spectacular find for me was this hybrid of Purple cone flower called Salsa Red Sombrero.  It has a flatter shape and an amazing red color I was surprised my camera phone could capture.

This was by far my favorite item and I came back to it several times.  However, I also enjoy a leaf variation too!  And this garden did not disappoint in that aspect either.  They had a dark leafed bugbane and a golden leafed anise hyssop.

Black Negligee Komchatka Bugbane

Golden Jubilee Anise Hyssop

It was an enjoyable hour I spend resting and exploring in the Fragrance Garden at the Morton Arboretum and I suggest if you live nearby you invest in a membership so you can just pop in after a long day and enjoy the nature and the beauty.  

          

                                You never know what you might find...

Like this perfect tiny leaf catmint that I will be adding to my fairy garden next year.

Kit Kat Catmint  (normal leaves left for scale)