Agastache problem

13 years ago

I wanted to try growing Agastache cana one more time before I threw in the towel, and I thought I had the previous plant deaths beat until yesterday. I grew this plant from seed, and it was doing really well with lots of pink blooms (that the hummingbirds mostly ignored, oh well). The whole plant changed from healthy to dead in about 3 days. You can't tell from the photos, but if you could touch the plant it would feel completely dried out -- leaves crumble under your fingers and the stems snap clean off. The leaves never turned brown.

Leaves

Dried out flower

Base of stems

Does anybody know what causes this? This issue has struck every Agastache cana I've grown as well as my previous Agastache 'Tutti-frutti', Agastache mexicana 'Sangria', Agastache foeniculum, and Agastache 'Blue Fortune'. I've also seen this same problem kill a couple of my bee balms in past years, even ones that are heat and humidity tolerant. I don't think it's a watering issue, but once the plants start to get this dried out appearance, they won't recover with additional water. The roots are still attached when I pull the plants out. The plants, if grown for multiple years, always come back in early spring and die in late spring to mid summer. The only thing I can guess is some sort of cotton root rot, despite the lack of rain and only supplemental watering on my part.

For a weird comparison, I also planted another seed-grown Agastache cana in a pot at the same time as a test subject. It's still chugging along so far. I also have groups of (in ground) 2 or 3 year old Agastache aurantiaca and Agastache rupestris all over my backyard that have never had a problem. It's a mystery.

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Comments (3)

GreatPlains1
13 years ago
I have the exact same problem. I grew A. cana and A. rupestris from seed and both did the same thing at the same time. They had all looked fine. It got so hot and dry and I gave the whole area a drink the evening before the demise. The next day everything else was fine except for the agastache. Its happened to me before, exactly like you are describing.

I just cannot seem to grow this. This is my last try.

The only think I could think of was it was so hot the next day they got steamed from the moisture?
Perylene
Original Author
13 years ago
Hey GreatPlains, it's oddly comforting to know I'm not the only one wrestling with these picky plants. I wonder if it's some sort of hot weather + moisture combo that's doing them in, like you said? They're supposed to be rugged, drought-tolerant plants, but I don't know if that logic still applies when it hits 100+ degrees during the day and everything's baking, even with mulch.

I've really payed attention to my various agastaches this year and noticed that they aren't the end-all and be-all hummingbird lures, at least compared to other plants in my garden, so I think I'm going take a break on them and focus on other plants instead. Agastaches are beautiful when blooming, but I'm tired of watching them unexpectedly die and then wondering what went wrong. Oh well!
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GreatPlains1
13 years ago
The only one I ever had luck with was in a pot. I had it for three years but it outgrew the pot and started getting ratty. I noticed I do still have one spring started seedling I'd forgotten about that is not growing much but its not wilted and dead looking. It wasn't watered and its in a much shadier area. Humidity intolerant? Steam cooked if watered?

I don't know. One year I tried some in my dry hot area down by the street based on the information about it being xeric, tough etc. It did not pass the test at all. Wimped out pretty quick in summer. I'm replacing mine with Flame Acanthus and Salvia.

Salvia is much better for attracting hummingbirds here.