Don't give up. Please try winter sowing, and you won't regret it. I had a totally brown thumb before doing everything via winter sowing method, and I haven't looked back. I even did agastache in Zone 5! Come on over!

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Forum

I winter sowed Agastache Golden Jubilee from Thompson-Morgan and not one seed germinated. I winter sowed Purple Pygmy and Apricot Sprite and they germinated like crazy.

Okay. However, once you do establish it, the plant will seed on its own all over the place. Pretty soon you might be wishing that the seeds were a little less successful! Try Agastache foeniculum if you have not yet. It is the most tolerant of wetter condition.

A. foeniculum and its hybrids germinate readily from a spring sowing. One important thing is to not cover the seeds too deeply (just a light covering of soilless mix to the thickness of the seed), and to keep the medium moist but not overly damp.

I purchased Purple Pygmy from an Ebay seller. A few germinated and promptly keeled over from damping off. Nothing else in that entire 72 cell flat damped off. The tropical milkweed I got from same seller hasn't germinated at all.

Luckily the Apricot Sprite I got from Valueseeds has germinated and has first set of true leaves.

Agastache Rupestris I got from Diane's Seeds germinated pretty well also.

I have no idea what percentage of anything germinates. I just count to see if I have enough sprouts and hopefully furute plants for where I want to put them!

I ordered more Agastache Purple Pygmy and tropical milkweed seeds in a panic from Hardy Plants/Specialty Perennials. Luckily got an email today saying they'd been mailed.

perennialfan273, ya wanna hear pathetic? I've tried direct sowing in January, winter sowing and now spring sowing Larkspur Seven Dwarfs (Valueseeds/TM) and nothing will germinate. Didn't say to soak seeds or do anything special. I read on the forums all the time "just sprinkle the seeds around in the fall when they ripen and you'll always have Larkspur." Not at this rate. I'll be darned if I'm going to pay $1.95 shipping for a 99 cents pack of seeds. Famous last words...LOL.

I have one Agastache Honey Bee Blue. The finches didn't eat the seeds off it the way I read they should and I don't see a single seedling anywhere around that plant! It's lucky it's such a workhorse even if the flower color is a little washed out.

Hang in there and try again. It's a mission for you now.

gardening is more a a zen thing.. we do it to release from the other stresses in our lives...

we dont do it to make our lives more stressful ....

we ALL have tried a myriad of plants ... that just wont work ... and we failed miserably .... its all part of gardening .... you can NOT get so invested in one plant.. that it impacts you this way ...

if seed fail .. and you just have to have it.. track down a live plant ... and pay the price to get it ... and skip all the problems of trying to grow it by seed ...

and.. i hope you know.. most mints are thoroughly invasive ... i am not specifically aware of this family of plants ... but i have to tell you.. i moved to get away from the mints i released at the old house.. well .. not really.. there were other reasons ... lol ..

most of us could probably give you a list as long as your arm.. of plants we gave up on.. for whatever reason ...

good luck

ken

PS: the really frustrating ones.. are the ones that grow down the street for the guy who napalms his yard twice a year ... if he even bothers to walk out there ... and yet i cant grow, what he probably considers a weed .. lol ..

But it is still early (esp. since you are in zone 5) and you can try again.

Perhaps divide the seeds into different growing condition, like some winter sowing, some starting indoor, some direct sow outdoor after the weather permits. If some of them succeed, you will have plenty of seeds to try again next year. :-)

If you buy three of the A. Blue Fortune this year, by next year you will have at least a dozen. They grow quickly, and are very easy to divide---also, they do seed around, but (at least in my yard) these seedling show up quite a bit latter than the plants themselves.

I absolutely love the pink/orange ones---In the summer and fall they are so beautiful---but, the winters here in my yard in CT seem to do them in.

I really don't buy annuals except to go in containers or window boxes, however, last year I realized that if I wanted the pink/orange ones, I needed to simply think of them as annuals.

In spite of their not so good ratings on Garden Watchdog, I took a chance and ordered a flat of 32 of the pink/orange ones from Green Mountain transplants. I think the price was something like a dollar and one half per plant.

Since the staff at GM never even acknowledged my order, I had very low expectations.

However, on Wednesday of the week I had requested delivery, these plants arrived. They were smaller than you might get at a garden center, but quite a bit larger than those same plants I had ordered from Bluestone. And, they were healthy and beautiful!

I planted them that afternoon, and they thrived in the garden. I am not expecting them to come back this year, but as you know, gardeners always hold out hope!

Good luck! I don't think you will regret it at all if you decide to start by buying a few of the Blue Fortune plants this spring.

I have grown successfully Agastache via Winter Sowing. (Blue Fortune) This year I have winter sown the Rupestris (sp?). I am axiously awaiting the sprouts.

The Blue Fortune is now reseeding in the gardens in a behaved sort of way. :O) The bees go nuts over it.

So forget what the packet says and try to winter sow them. You can still do it in your zone. Place your container outside and let them germinate when they want to.

Agastache is an easy, warm germinator. If you didn't have any success with germination, it's very possible that the seeds were not viable. So, it might not be your fault at all. You still have time to try again for plants that will bloom this year.