Agastache

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

Worked continuously by honey bees, bumblebees and small solitary bees, plus butterflies and hummingbirds in its native range. Few plants are busy for as many weeks.

Short two-lipped florets with nectar within reach of a honey bee — genuinely accessible across the range rather than only to long-tongued species.

Worth knowing

Very high on both counts across an exceptionally long late-season window, from a plant that needs no attention at all.

Flowering

In flower

July to October (northern hemisphere)

Three months or more, and it will still be flowering after the first light frosts.

When nectar flows

Copious and sustained, with florets opening in succession up the spike over weeks. It secretes well in heat and drought.

Year-to-year variation

Extremely dependable. A honey crop only where it is grown as a deliberate bee pasture, which some North American beekeepers do.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun and sharp drainage. It survives cold well and winter wet badly.

Size

60-120 cm.

Native range

The North American prairies and northern plains.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Containers and window boxes, Meadow or wildflower area

• One of the best value-for-effort late-season bee plants there is, and it self-seeds gently so a planting perpetuates itself.
• Leave the seed heads standing over winter — goldfinches strip them and the stems are architectural in frost.
• The leaves make a good aniseed tea, which is a reasonable second use for a plant grown for bees.

What it looks like

An upright clump of square stems with aromatic anise-scented toothed leaves, topped by dense cylindrical spikes of small lavender-purple two-lipped flowers.