Agastache rugosa

‘Korean Zest’

KOREAN ZEST AGASTACHE

SALE: Buy 1 get 2 packs

Agastache rugosa ‘Korean Zest’
KOREAN ZEST AGASTACHE
SALE: Buy 1 get 2 packs

Showy lavender flower spikes are constantly produced from spring through summer and autumn, on beautiful Agastache rugosa ‘Korean Zest’.

Deliciously scented & edible

This hardy, evergreen, shrubby perennial should have a place in every garden, and in pots as well so you can move it around to feature.
As well as giving a beautiful garden display, ‘Korean Zest’ is delightful for its scented, edible flowers and foliage for use in the kitchen.
But when you add in a tough, bone-hardy constitution, and water-wise, easy low maintenance, then you have no excuse not to have it.

Tough & easy to grow

‘Korean Zest’ 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.
‘Korean Zest’ is water-wise and drought resistant, so it is ideal for gardeners with limited water.

Agastache rugosa ‘Korean Zest’ 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

The flowers are scented and flavoured like mint (and this is a mint you can have without it running away), while the foliage is scented and flavoured of liquorice. So they are both very useful in the kitchen.
Use either in cakes, biscuits, salads, drinks, as edible and colourful garnish and to flavour meat dishes. (Agastache leaves go really well with pork).
Both flowers and foliage are delightful when dried and added to pot-pourri.

Flowers first year from seed

It is a hardy, upright, dense, compact perennial clump, and very quick growing for fast garden effect.
If seed is sown early indoors, the plants will flower happily in their first year from seed.
The plant makes an upright 60-80cm. high, dense shrubby perennial.

Lovely cut flowers

The bountiful flower trusses make good cut blooms for a vase indoors, where their lovely lavender-blue colour and soft texture set off all other flowers and colours so well.

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, they are a blessing for all our useful pollinators and great entertainment for us.
Agastache flowers are an invaluable and long lasting food source for bees, butterflies, birds and other useful pollinators – so plant some in your veggie plot or orchard.

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.

SEED SOWING ADVICE: QUICK & EASY

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

Sow indoors for quick plants & early flowers: First sow the seed in a punnet on surface of good quality seed raising mix.
Then pat the seed gently into the surface of the mix.
But do not cover.
Because these seeds need light to germinate.

Now moisten the mix by standing the punnet in a shallow water bath, and allow the moisture to percolate up to the surface of the mix from below.

Label the punnet with the name and date sown.

Now place in a well lit position, but not in direct sunlight.

Temperature of 18-20C approx. is best for rapid germination, but they are not particularly fussy.

Continue to keep the punnet moist by misting the surface from a water spray bottle.
Covering the punnet with a clear plastic cover or bag will also help to maintain even and consistent moisture.

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: 100 seeds per packet approximately.
(We aim to make our seed counts on the generous side – so you receive at least 100 seeds)