Agastache cana

‘Heather Queen’

HEATHER QUEEN AGASTACHE

Agastache cana ‘Heather Queen’
HEATHER QUEEN AGASTACHE

Agastache cana ‘Heather Queen’ is a recent release, and has been bred especially for unbeatable flower power, but on a compact plant.
So it is particularly suited to small gardens, pots where you need a very long period of blooming, or planting in the veggie patch.

Flowers are a rich magenta-rose, and provide one of the most vivid colour shows of all the wonderful Agastache family.
‘Heather Queen’ will not give up flowering from the go of mid-spring to the whoa of late autumn.

Large blooms, long flowering – but suitable for small gardens

Flower heads are large, showy and prolific on Agastache cana ‘Heather Queen’.
But she makes all those flowers on such a small and compact bush.

Deliciously scented & edible

This hardy, evergreen, shrubby perennial gives a marvellous garden display.
But ‘Heather Queen’ should also be grown for her delightful scent.
Both the flowers and foliage are edible and deliciously scented and flavoured of mint.

Cooks love it for use in the kitchen for both sweet and savoury dishes.
But when you add in a tough, bone-hardy constitution, and water-wise, easy low maintenance, then Agastache cana ‘Heather Queen’ is a garden essential.

Tough & easy to grow

‘Heather Queen’ is tough and easily grown in Full Sun to Part Shade.
It is hardy in frost and forgiving of a wide range of soils, including sandy, rocky and poor soils.
It suits coastal areas, windy, and hot and dry gardens.
‘Heather Queen’ is water-wise and drought resistant, so it is ideal for gardeners with limited water, as well as limited space.

Low maintenance & easy to grow

Agastache cana ‘Heather Queen’ is a low maintenance plant, and largely untroubled by any pests and diseases.
The only work required is to cut the whole plant back hard before spring to encourage new growth and a neat shape. And to pick and enjoy the delicious flowers and foliage as often as possible.

Use in cooking

Use the minty flavour in cakes, biscuits, salads, drinks; as edible and colourful garnish; and to flavour meat dishes.
Both flowers and foliage are delightful when dried and added to pot-pourri and insect repelling sachets.
Plus herbal and folk medicine tells us to rub the leaves on exposed skin to help repel mosquitoes.

Flowers first year from seed

Agastache cana ‘Heather Queen’ is a hardy, upright, dense, compact perennial clump, and very quick growing for fast garden effect.
If the seed is sown early indoors, the resulting plants will flower happily in as little as 3 months from sowing the seed.
The plant makes an upright 60cm. high, dense shrubby perennial.

Lovely cut flowers

The bountiful flower trusses make good cut blooms for a vase indoors, where their rich magenta-rose colour, and soft texture really sing.

Birds & bees love Agastache

But for me it is the entertainment provided by our native honey-eating birds, while they acrobatically dance amongst the flowers and do a fine impersonation of a Hummingbird sipping nectar from the flowers, that make Agastache indispensable in my garden.
As the Agastache blooms continuously for months on end, from late spring to autumn’s close, the plant is a blessing for all our birds and useful pollinators, and provides great entertainment for us.

‘Heather Queen’ flowers are exceptionally rich in nectar. So they are invaluable and long lasting food source for bees, butterflies, birds and other useful pollinators. You will really see the difference in fruit set when you plant some in your veggie plot or orchard. Or stand a flowering pot nearby.

Rabbit & deer resistant

And to top it all off – rabbits and deer cant abide the aromatic oils in the foliage and flowers – so they leave them alone. Bless all Agastache.

90cm. High in spectacular flower x 45cm Wide fragrant shrubby foliage.

SEED SOWING ADVICE: QUICK & EASY

Scatter seeds directly in the garden during spring or autumn / or sow at any time indoors for early plants.

Indoors: Sow seed in punnets on surface of good quality seed raising mix.
Pat seed gently into the surface of the mix. Do not cover. Seeds need light to germinate.

Moisten the mix by placing the punnet in a water bath, with the water level below the surface of the punnet, and allow the water to percolate up from the bottom. This will ensure the mix is thoroughly moist but not drenched.

Label the punnet with the name and date sown.

Place in a well lit position, but not in direct sunlight.
Keep punnet moist by misting surface from a water spray bottle.

Temperature of 18-20C approx. is best for rapid germination, but they are not particularly fussy. At optimum temperature seedlings emerge in approx. 14-28 days.
(An electronic heat bed is ideal but not essential, any warm, well-lit spot will do).

Seed Count: 50 seeds per packet approximately.
(We always aim to exceed the stated count and make our seed counts on the generous side).

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