Photo contest prize: Agastaches!

May 01, 2009


Last Monday I learned that my photo of the Echinacea and other native plants, above, had won the Picture This Photo Contest at Gardening Gone Wild. Reading the nice things photographer Saxon Holt said about my image might have been prize enough—and it was quite nice indeed—but wait! There’s more!

Today a box arrived from High Country Gardens with a shipment of eight different Agastache to try in my garden, plus a 5-lb. bag of their Yum Yum Mix organic fertilizer. The agastaches are the photo-contest prize; the Yum Yum Mix is a bonus from the president of High Country Gardens, esteemed plantsman David Salman, who took the time to personally email me about the growing requirements of the agastaches. How nice is all that?

As soon as the package arrived, I unpacked the tall pots of deep-rooted agastaches and gave them a good drink. Now I just need to find some space in my sunniest beds in which to plant them. I’ll consider this my second plant trial during the summer of ’09 and will report regularly on their progress.
Agastaches are native to dry, lean soils and a higher elevation than Austin has. Humidity can cause powdery mildew, which David advised me to keep an eye out for. He also suggested planting them in well-drained soil with late-afternoon shade. Deep clay soil can be the kiss of death for them, he said, emphasizing their need for dry feet. Once established, they are drought-tolerant, deer-resistant, and hummingbird magnets. Not to mention gorgeously colorful.
I’ll do my best to make them happy, David! Here are six of the eight varieties he sent. High Country Gardens’ entire collection of agastaches is viewable online.

Agastache cana ‘Rosita’

Agastache ‘Desert Sunrise’

Agastache ‘Summer Glow’

Agastache neomexicana

Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon & Pink’

Agastache rugosum. Plantsman Dan Hinkley collected this one in Korea, according to the HCG catalog.
Not pictured are Agastache ‘Ava’ and A. rupestris.

My thanks to David Salman for permission to use High Country Gardens’ images, and for sending me such a beautiful collection of agastaches. My appreciation to the folks at Gardening Gone Wild for a rewarding contest too!
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

0 responses to “Photo contest prize: Agastaches!”

  1. Loree says:

    Congrats to you! A very much deserved first place…
    Thanks, Loree. —Pam

  2. Congratulations! And never be too eager to turn down free plants! 😉 I ordered my red yucca from High Country Gardens and was pleased with their customer service. The yuccas look dead, but that’s my own fault for pushing their zone. 🙁
    Free plants are the best kind, right? 😉 I hope your red yucca does well for you. They’re all in bloom in Austin right now and look so pretty. —Pam

  3. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    I was so happy to read that you won the photo contest Pam. I was happy to see that someone else appreciates your photos as much as I do.
    I can’t wait to see what those gorgeous plants do in your garden. I wonder if any of them grow in zone 6, which is my zone. They are real beauties.
    Thanks, Lisa. See Kylee’s comment below about cold-hardy agastaches. —Pam

  4. linda says:

    Congratulations Pam! That’s a beautiful shot – it’s easy to see why you won! Enjoy your new plants.
    I shall, Linda! Thanks. —Pam

  5. Nancy Bond says:

    Congrats, Pam! They’re beautiful…as is your winning photo. 🙂
    Thanks, Nancy. I’m so excited to try out these new plants. —Pam

  6. Les says:

    Well deserved! Sounds like your prizes should do well in your garden too. I have been wanting to try one and have seen them do well here, provided it has good drainage in the winter.
    That’ll be the key here too, Les. But I’m encouraged to know that they can take the humidity in your climate. —Pam

  7. Congrats again, and I look forward to seeing how all your plant trials turn out.
    It’s one big experiment in the new-baby garden this summer, Carol. —Pam

  8. Caroline says:

    That photo of your is just the perfect garden photo — light, exposure, composition, color, detail — it makes me want to sit right on that bench and wait for the butterflies to arrive! I can’t wait to see how the agastaches do in your garden. Question: if they should get powdery mildew, how would you treat it?
    Caroline, that’s a good question. I so rarely treat any of my plants, preferring to let them duke it out and look a little less than perfect while doing so. The one exception is the agave snout-nosed weevil, which I did treat for. I hope to avoid the powdery mildew altogether by giving them good air circulation and site placement. —Pam

  9. Pam– you’ll love your agastaches! Congratulations!
    My ‘Summer Glow’ just started blooming and I planted them less than two weeks ago (4″ pots).
    ‘Salmon & Pink’ is a great performer that doesn’t stop blooming until frost.
    I don’t have the others, but let me put it this way… I’ve never met an agastache that I didn’t like!
    Have fun!
    Cameron
    How encouraging! I just hope I have enough sun for them, Cameron. If they perform well, I know I’m going to wish I had room for entire sweeps of them. —Pam

  10. Bonnie says:

    Gorgeous. Are you putting them in the front yard? I’m so intrigued by the deer-resistance!
    Me too, Bonnie. I don’t have any planting beds in sun in the front yard, so I’m putting them in the back yard for now. But I anticipate making a few sunny beds out front next year, and I may transplant some of them then. —Pam

  11. Congratulations, Pam! 🙂 I don’t have a single agastache! Most of the ones I like are only hardy to zone 6, but I could try one of the hardier ones, even though I don’t like them as well.
    I’ve gotten a few things from High Country Gardens, including three different agaves. (See? One way or another, I will have one!) I bought those last year, but only one made it through the winter, even though the three I bought were supposed to be hardy to zone 5. The A. parryi is the lone survivor. Any advice on how to make it grow faster? It’s really small.
    Parry’s agave is supposed to be very cold-hardy, so I guess it’s living up to its reputation. I find that agaves will respond to extra water with faster growth. But you’ve got to give it good drainage or risk rotting it. And no extra water in winter. —Pam

  12. chuck b. says:

    Congratulations for winning such a great prize! I’m sure those agastaches will look great in your garden.
    Thanks, Chuck. —Pam

  13. chuck b. says:

    I said “great” too many times in that comment.
    Great Scott, you did! But I didn’t notice until you mentioned it. —Pam

  14. Diana Kirby says:

    Congrats! That is a beautifully framed photo – so deserving. That was a fun thing to do. I ordered 3 Acapulco Pink and Salmon Agastaches from High Country this spring and can’t wait to see how they do. We’ll have to compare note — I have high hopes for them. Your collection looks wonderful — good luck with it. And what’s better than that — free plants!
    Yes, let’s compare notes! Are you planting yours in the deer zone, Diana? And how much sun are you giving them? —Pam

  15. Jane says:

    It’s a beautiful native plant photo and definitely deserved to win, Pam. You’ll love the agastashes. I have a two-year old plant (from Loews of all places) that looks a lot like Acapulco Pink. It has performed beautifully in my very new Portland, OR garden. Enjoy!
    I’m glad to hear how it’s done for you in rainy Portland, Jane. They sound pretty adaptable. —Pam

  16. ESP says:

    Well done on the photo contest Pam! I hope those Agastache work out well for you in your new habitat. That was a really cool photo!
    One quick unrelated question?
    I remembered that I followed your cutting back post last year on your mexican bush sage, I just don’t exactly remember when you did it / posted it, for a compact fall bloom…can you please remind me? I want mine to be in their best form for the CTG filming in the fall.
    Worried already,
    ESP. 🙂
    Hi, ESP. Congrats on the CTG filming this fall! I cut my Salvia leucanthas back in May as soon as they reach about three feet. I cut them back by half, and then in autumn they don’t flop and they look great. —Pam

  17. Gail says:

    I love that you won the contest! The photo is excellent and one of my favorites from a long list of favorites. Your posts and photos have single-handedly been responsible for many plant additions to c&l! What a fantastic collection of agataches…I look forward to seeing them come into their own this summer. Btw, Agastache foeniculum ‘Golden Jubilee’ is doing fine in my clay soil in full sun. gail
    Thanks, Gail! And thanks for the info that your agastache grows fine in clay soil. They don’t sound as fussy as I feared. —Pam

  18. Tatyana says:

    Pam, congratulations! Your photo is an inspiration!
    Thanks, Tatyana. —Pam

  19. Nola says:

    Jackpot! I can’t wait to see them as they progress through summer! This was your lucky week, nothing’s better than a windfall of unexpected *free* plants! You go girl!
    It did feel like winning the jackpot, Nola. Thanks! —Pam

  20. Cindy, MCOK says:

    Pam, I have faith in your ability to grow these gorgeous Agastaches in your garden! I’ve tried them a couple of times without success but given David’s notes to you, I understand why mine failed. Congrats on the win … we look forward to photographs of them blooming beauteously!
    Hi, Cindy. Do you think yours failed because of poor drainage? I wonder if certain varieties are more tolerant than others? Several commenters, above, have said their agastaches grow fine in clay or in rainy climates, and I was beginning to think they were fairly adaptable. —Pam

  21. Theo says:

    Gee, I wonder how great, successful nurseries get that way?
    HC Gardens sounds like a class operation
    Congrats on the award, too
    They do seem to be, Theo. You’re right that responsive and friendly service make all the difference in which nurseries people will return to. —Pam

  22. Linda says:

    Congratulations! That’s a great picture.
    Hope the agastaches work out well for you. Being “deer resistant” sounds interesting. But, the deer don’t seem to understand that here, in my neighborhood. Good luck.
    Linda…
    Won’t those deer ever learn to read the “deer-resistant” labels?! They are so stubborn about eating what they’re not supposed to like. —Pam

  23. Brenda Kula says:

    Lucky gardener, you! Congratulations, Pam!
    Brenda
    Thanks, Brenda. —Pam

  24. arythrina says:

    Those look great! What a fun bonus to winning a contest! Are you going to plant them all together or separate them out by colors?
    Since I just started my new garden, I don’t have many beds yet. I will have to tuck these in here and there where I have a little room. They’ll all end up on the sunnier side of the garden though. Next year, as I expand the garden, I hope to be able to move them around and try some out front to see if they’re really deer-resistant. —Pam

  25. Pam says:

    Congrats on your beautiful photo! I just purchased that Agastache Acapulco. I liked the flowers, but I loved the scent. Yummy! (And after reading your blog for the last year or so, I found my very own Scutellaria! I’m very excited.)
    Congrats on the Scutellaria. Aren’t they cute? I’m glad you pointed out the fragrance of Agastache foliage. I’ve noticed that too. —Pam

  26. Pam says:

    How fun…and what a nice package of plants! I have only two of them in my garden, but want more (a big duh there) – bees and hummingbirds just love them. Your photo was gorgeous – congrats!
    Thanks, Pam. I’m glad to hear that Agastaches perform well in your coastal S.C. garden. Based on the comments, it seems they grow pretty well all over the U.S. —Pam

  27. kerri says:

    A well deserved win, Pam, for your beautiful photo, and what a wonderful prize! I’ll be very interested to follow the progress of your plants. I have some agastache seedlings growing under my plant lights and it looks like the ones I planted last summer are returning. I didn’t have any blooms because I got the plants in too late in the summer…or that’s what I’m assuming. I haven’t had any previous experience with it, so can only guess.
    Thanks, Kerri. I hope to see pictures of Agastache blooms on a future Bloom Day post from your garden. Good luck! —Pam

  28. Town Mouse says:

    Thanks for the report. Those plants look great, though I’m glad I didn’t win, have exactly the heavy clay that would kill them all dead right away! Looking forward to hearing more.
    I’ll be sure to follow up with more pictures soon, Town Mouse. —Pam

  29. Jenny says:

    We visited HCG when we were in Santa Fe. Loved the place but they have quite a different climate from our own. Those cool nights which make such a difference to the flower power. It will be interesting to know how you fare with the agastache. I grew “palace purple” from seed in one of our first years in the garden. It had a gorgeous lime green leaf which is what I was after. It fared quite well the first year and sent up a few seedlings but that was it. I also tried another variety but it didn’t fare well. Maybe the secret is to buy the full grown plants and they will do better. If so then the plants would be worthwhile. They may have failed in my garden because of lack of water and an absent gardener! and dare I say- overcrowding!
    I would think you have the right soil for them, Jenny, but maybe they are hard to grow from seed. I’ll let you know how they grow from 4-inch pots. —Pam

  30. Nice bounty, Pam. Your photo is lovely, but your photos always are. I grow a couple of Agastaches, had them for a season, and they do like my dry sandy areas. I hope yours settle right in, and you enjoy them all summer long.~~Dee
    Thanks, Dee. I hope so too. —Pam

  31. Jenn says:

    Beautiful. You’ll have to let us know how they fare for you. I’m musing trying some of these in Phoenix, there are a few varieties that show up on HCG’s search index under the query ‘low desert’ (there’s also a conifer, which makes me scratch my head every time I see it)
    If you decide to try a few, I hope you’ll let me know how they do for you. I’m curious to know how adaptable agastaches are. —Pam

  32. Lori says:

    Wicked cool! I have some agastaches in my crappy sandy soil raised beds in the back, and they’re doing surprisingly well for being in so much shade. I’ve been admiring the agastaches from the High Country Gardens catalogue for a while now, so can’t wait to see how yours do in this climate.
    It’s gives me hope that yours can do well in partial shade. I have plenty and more of that. —Pam