i bought two "blue fortune" this year. they're in full sun
and the blue is very pale. the foliage was almost a lime green color when i bought it - it has started to become the deep rich green shown in photos. i'm not all that impressed, so far, given the hype over this plant. but, i'm gonna hang on to it till next year and see if time and tlc has an impact.

I grew Blue Fortune for a couple of years in full sun. The main charm of the plant was the foliage before it bloomed. Deep green and aromatic and really drew the eye. After the plant bloomed, the foliage tended to pale a lot. The main advantage of the bloom were all the insects the flowers attracted, not the beauty of the flowers. They are a very pale blue.

I had it last year (in full sun), but it didn't come back this spring. I would have let it stay, but I wasn't impressed enough to pay to replace it.
Dana

I only had one last year and it didn't come back either. But to be fair I let it dry out before it had gotten established. If you are getting rid of it bring it to the swap! Someone may really be wanting to try it. Or at the very least take it off your hands. -Ais.

I was rather unimpressed as well and not disappointed when it didn't come back after it's second or third winter.

OK, potting up nice healthy green plants for swap....feeling a little guilty though.

I had a response typed up and lost my connection.

I've been pleased with what I got, which includes leaves that smell of licorice.

Hope the swap you're talking about is Rutherfordton, and John, have you thought about a Raleigh swap same weekend as Plant Delights fall open house sometime now that you're not there any more?

I don't think I can get up there this year, but maybe next fall... pretty sure I wanna check out the winter open house, too... I'm HEAVY into gardening late-February/early March when that's scheduled, but that's not a good time for a swap, I don't think, unless folks are gonna swap seedlings they started indoors in January.

Thoughts?
Jeff

brenda, don't feel guilty ... at least you're not tossing it over the fence :)

I had one absolutely gorgeous year out of mine, attracted more butterflies than anything else in the garden, and then it's been downhill every year since then. I'm planning to dig and reset mine with better drainage this fall, as it's glory day was in a severe drought year. Mine is out in the meadow where it gets midday and afternoon sun.

Yeah, mine are pretty green globes, but the blooms are just not striking - fuzzy washed-out blue catterpillars - guess it's just not my thing. I like Agastache "Golden Jubilee" - plants and flowers look same, but gold foliage.

My Golen Jubilee didn't really look golden to me, and I grew it in numerous places. It also didn't come back. The agastache I'm growing now came from seed that someone put in the seed swap box this past winter. I don't mind the wildflower look - but it isn't really blue and it isn't really striking. I like the other agastache colors out there but I think they manipulate the plants for the photo shoots, I have never seen one look as dense or as colorful as they appear in the magazines.

You just needed to see it in David_5311's garden in SE Michigan. You will usually find him in Perennials or Shrubs forums, but this year he is busy with new property. He made me love 'Blue Fortune', but I don't think the SC heat and humidity will allow this plant to perform as well for us.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:192272}}

I think the lighting has something to do with why the color is so good in that photo.

well, that photo certainly depicts the agastache
look i was after when i bought it. given everyone's
blue fortune experiences, i've dispensed with my
illusions of it coming back next spring. *sigh*

marsha

I think you are correct to a point alicia7b. That is true for all garden photography. Early morning light and overcast days will always provide the richest colors in photos. This photo wasn't doctored, but the timing was right to achieve the rich hues. You can see in some of the echinecea flowers that they are fading. Those 'Blue Fortune' blooms really are pretty blue, more so than mine here in SC. That is more a function of his climate and attention to detail with plant / soil preparation than it is just the fact that it was an overcast day.

Better, even, than an overcast day, is photographing with early morning or late afternoon sunlight AND setting your camera to underexpose by one or two "F-Stops" (if you don't know what that means, but the camera has settings on it, just get it to -1 and/or -2 and play around a bit...

Generally, underexposing a bit (a lot of built-in meters are set too "bright") will tend to bring out richer colors. Also, avoid using flash during daytime as you can, as that may also flatten the colors, although "fill flash" can sometimes improve outdoor colors if there's bright sunlight (you may have to tinker with flash settings, too, like maybe tell your flash to put out less light).

With today's digital cameras, this sort of thing will vary MUCH MORE from camera to camera than it did with the old film cameras, so giving this sort of advice can't be extremely precise. You just have to have a general idea and toy with the settings a bit until you see what you get. If your camera has a "bracketing" setting, that's a good option, too... I generally keep my camera set at -1 and then if it's something I really want to be sure I have the best shot of, I also bracket, which gives me at least one exposure at -2 and one exposure at 0, meaning one exposure exactly AS the camera's electronics think it should be, and two exposures below that, one, one exposure value below, and one two exposure values below... with digital, it's so easy to delete bad exposures on the camera, or, like me, just keep them all and put them on the computer where you can see them full-size, then delete what's no good there.

Of course using camera features to make your blues "bluer" still isn't going to make the actual flowers any bluer in real life, is it? But then, I'm OK with the pale blues from my Blue Fortunes, for now... I have PLENTY of darker blues from other things (none currently blooming, but at other times). There's room for all shades and colors in my opinion.

Happy Gardening!
Jeff

Yes, I didn't mean that the photo was doctored, but that it was taken either in early morning or late afternoon. In full hot sun the flowers are a pale blue here.

Although those faded coneflowers look better in that photo than they usually do in real life.... :)

I'm bringing 'Blue Fortune to the swap, but I have to say I like my little 'Golden Jubilee' seedlings. All time winner of all agastaches I started from seed this year was 'Apricot Sprite.' Knock-out color, great scent, and it doesn't get leggy even in my dappled shade. (BTW, my dappled shade may be reason 'Blue Fortune wasn't a winner for me.)

{{gwi:582702}}

{{gwi:582704}}

{{gwi:582707}}

Is that the apricot agastache pictured below the Blue F.?
That is a really gorgeous color, but the leaf shape is so different from Golden Jubilee and the B. Fortune. I love it whatever it is, and it's totally impressive that you grew it from seed.

Oh my blue fortune did way better than that, Brenda. Maybe yours didn't get enough sun, water or fertilizer.

Conditions can make a big difference, I think. I just got mine at the spring plant sale at Hatcher April 23, so they weren't planted until about the first of May (I'd bought some at last fall's sale, too, but it didn't make it through the winter in pots :(

Anyway, here's a picture of mine in bloom in the raised bed I started this year, shot July 12, for comparison... Note that in addition to building this bed the "lasagna" way, with each third layer being the high-yield composted manure (.5-.5-.5), I fertilized it regularly with bloom-booster fertilizer AND gave it a dose of time-release "color-burst" 15-30-15 and watered it every time I thought it needed it (just put the soaker hose on it again today, as it's been VERY dry lately), so perhaps I just gave mine more "oomph." It's still blooming like this, by the way, too, and along with buddleia and some other flowering plants has just FILLED my back yard with more butterflies than I've ever seen in my life! :) (I saw four tiger swallowtails on just one buddleia at the same time this afternoon!)

{{gwi:582709}}

While this bed doesn't receive full sun all day, it does get at least a good 6 hours or more, too... I guess a lot depends on preferences, how you garden, and what your local conditions are.

Hope everyone that gets one of yours in Raleigh (which I can't afford to drive to :( ) enjoys theirs as much as I have mine. One of mine was sort of leaning over this afternoon, like it was trying to fall out of the bed, and I leaned it back into the bed... just doing that, just brushing the leaves, set off the most DELICIOUS licorice smell (of course if you don't like the smell of licorice, that won't be a plus, either, lol).

Happy Gardening!
Jeff

i am thrilled to report that both agastache "blue fortune" i planted last year are coming back! the blue doesn't bowl one over, but this plant looked great & bloomed non-stop during pretty tough conditions last year. and i reallly enjoyed all the bees & butterflies it attracted. nice plant; i'd replace it when/if it fades out on me.

OK, so as much as I griped and whined about this plant last year, I kept a trio of them. I saw the new growth, all green and purple sprouting new scalloped leaves this week, and thought - what are those pretty little plants coming up? When I figured it out, I decided that maybe I like them after all. After all, I haven't killed it yet.

Is the apricot Agastache as pretty as it looks in pictures?

The blue is pale, but the butterflies loved it last summer. Maybe it depends on soil/amendments and/or what is placed next to it to make it "pop"? I have enjoyed the Blue Fortune and the butterflies, but am also trying other varieties this year. Will definitely keep the Blue.

I got some for a dollar each late last fall! They never fully died back. Now there is new growth at the base that looks so healthy! Can't wait to see how they do this year. -ais.

I have to say that I had the same opinion about A. 'Blue Fortune'. It was OK for a week, then, as the blooms started to fade, they turn the color of dirty dishwater. I did not think this plant lived up to the hype.

In contrast, A. 'Golden Jubilee' has been a winner for me.

Honey Bee Blue doesn't always come back-but it it a winner for me, great color and self cleaning.

WOW, A honeybee magnet!!! This is a great agastache. Clearly superior to any others. Grown in full sun and well drained soil it is the happiest. It needs to be established and I have found that planting this plant in late spring works the best. Root establishment to overwinter is key. I would not plant this in the late summet or fall. Some newer cultivars I am playing with. I do not find them to be as tolerant to our winters here. "Blue Fortune" is by far the winner. ABSOLUTELY the honeybees favorite!!!

Blue Fortune is by far the best and hardiest for Z6 up here in CT. It easily tolerates our harsher winters and reliably comes back bigger than ever each year. Sometimes I get volunteer seedlings too. I have Blue Fortune growing in predominantly dry shade and it does fine. It's flopping a bit with our recent heavy rains. Also because it is flowering out of control! I have even merely pulled one up out of the ground (not dug up), ripped it apart from the one next to it, put it out front in full sun and it's 5' tall bushy and very blue/purple. I wouldn't call it pale at all. 'Purple Haze' is darker purple and gorgeous. The flower heads are not quite as dense as Blue Fortune. I have it growing in full sun and despite what the plant tag said, it is 4-5' tall too.

I gew up in NC, the soil is heavy clay there. That would kill or at least hinder an agastache, imho. After establishment, they need a dry well-drained soil to thrive. After it is established, this is a definitely "no water" drought-tolerant reliable plant.