"Doug" wrote in message
et...
Last year I started a whole bunch of perennials from seed for a
butterfly/hummingbird garden. Agastache foeniculum ("Blue Spike" anise
hyssop) was one of them. The plants grew well and bloomed that first year.
I
wasn't that crazy about the light lavender color so I've been wondering if
I
want to keep them.

WELL, let me tell you something- I made the mistake of letting these
things go to seed and now they're popping up all over the place! They are,
by far, the worst offender in my garden. Now I wonder if I'll ever get
them
all out!

In all of my research I don't remember seeing any mention of how
invasive the seedlings can be. There's even an article about them in the
June 2003 issue of "Garden Gate" magazine and it doesn't mention their
prolific self-seeding. It says to propagate them by division!

I have half a mind to rip out the original plants (which are 4 feet
tall
this year!) just because I'm afraid I'll miss dead-heading one of the
flower
stalks before it spreads its seeds to my neighbor's garden.

Well, I just wanted to get that out of my system.

I started some from seed about 4 years ago. I agree that they are prolific
self-seeder. In the spring I have thousands of them appearing around the
established plants and a few here and there a few yards away. I don't find
them troublesome as I can just cultivate with a hoe or hand cultivator and
the seedlings are eliminated. The variety that I have isn't very showy
(licorice blue). It does attract a lot of bees and butterflies. I let it
go to seed and leave it as-is all winter because it gives some interest to
the garden. I also enjoy the fragrance of the foliage. I have several
weeds that are far more troublesome: Virginia creeper, wild honeysuckle,
wild strawberry, creeping Charlie, bind weed, thistles, onions, poke weed,
and a very troublesome unidentified weed that spreads like crazy and
produces clusters of small, dark pink flowers.