Agastache 'Peachie Keen'

Agastache 'Peachie Keen': Soft Peach Spikes With an Anise Twist

Apricot-peach flowers in pinkish cups, and the flowers and leaves are even edible with a mild anise kick. 'Peachie Keen' is the gung-ho friend who volunteers for everything. GOLLY, IT'S EAGER.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Agastache hybrid
• Common Name: Anise Hyssop, Hummingbird Mint
• Height: 51–61 cm (20–24 in)
• Spread: 66–81 cm (26–32 in)
• Flowers: Apricot-peach, set in purplish pink calyxes that keep their colour after the flowers finish
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to early fall (July to September)
• Foliage: Bright green and fragrant, forming a broad, bushy mound
• Features: Fragrant flowers and foliage, edible flowers and leaves with a mild anise flavour
• Plant Patent: USPP 25,886

Where to Plant: Use it at the front or middle of a sunny border, where its wide habit can fill a gap. It also works in large containers. Leave the spent spikes standing in fall, since the seed heads give the bed some structure through winter.

Companion Plants: Armeria 'Alba' makes a neat white edge in late spring. Iris 'Superstition' adds bold, upright leaves and purple flowers in June and July, a rich backdrop for apricot. Salvia Sallyrosa™ April Night fills in with violet spikes from late spring to early fall. All of them like full sun.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in average, well-drained soil. Agastache does not forgive wet feet in winter, so lighten clay with grit or plant on a slight rise. Water through the first summer while the roots settle in. After that it handles dry weather well. Go easy on fertilizer. Leave the stems up over winter and cut them back in spring once new shoots appear. Walters Gardens officially rates it a zone 6 plant but reports it overwintering well in its zone 5b trials, so in Ottawa or Montreal give it your warmest, best-drained spot.

History: 'Peachie Keen' was bred at Walters Gardens in Zeeland, Michigan, by Hans Hansen and Kevin Hurd. It came from a planned 2010 cross between Agastache 'Firebird' and Agastache 'Ava', and 'Rosie Posie' is its sibling from the same cross.

Final Thoughts: Toss a few petals on a salad and leave the rest for the hummingbirds. Deer pass on it, drought doesn't faze it. ENTHUSIASM IS A PERENNIAL.