‘Queen Nectarine’ Agastache Impresses With Its Vigor, Hardiness and Color
We love two-toned flowers!
Agastache 'Queen Nectarine' is a new hummingbird mint that offers the heat and drought tolerance that gardeners expect from this kind of perennial, but with improved vigor and winter hardiness. With its upright stems reaching three feet tall, it is a good perennial for the middle or back of the perennial border, where its late-summer blooms can shine amid companions like ornamental grasses and coneflowers (Echinacea and Rudbeckia). Like other agastaches, this is a good plant for attracting hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators.
Common name: 'Queen Nectarine' hummingbird mint
Botanical name: Agastache 'Queen Nectarine'
Exposure: Full sun
Flowers: This perennial blooms in mid- to late summer, with flowers lining the upper portions of its stems. Flower buds are pinkish purple. They open into pale peach tubular flowers that face outward.
Foliage: Long, narrow, medium green leaves concentrated at the bottom portion of the stems.
Habit: 'Queen Nectarine' agastache reaches 30 to 36 inches tall and wide, with an upright growth habit.
Related: For a smaller hummingbird mint, check out Agastache 'Mango Tango'
Origin: Agastache is a genus of plants with most of its species native to North America, especially Mexico and the western/southwestern United States. 'Queen Nectarine' is a hybrid agastache introduced to the garden market in 2023 by Proven Winners Perennials.
How to grow it: Plant 'Queen Nectarine' agastache in full sun. Provide regular water while the plant is getting established. In subsequent seasons, agastache will be drought tolerant, requiring only low to moderate soil moisture. It does need good drainage. Wet soil in winter is especially troublesome to agastache. 'Queen Nectarine' is hardy in USDA Zones 5–9. However it will need a winter mulch in Zone 5.
Image courtesy of Walters Gardens
