Zone 7b and I have so many agastache that I'm pretty reckless with them. I do plant them in September and early October. A few weeks ago, I moved a 4 foot tall, in bloom agastache 'Coronado'. It didn't skip a beat other than a few wilted leaves in the afternoon that bounced back each morning. Needs to be shaded in the hottest part of the day during transplanting and I waited until cloudy days/rain was in the forecast to minimize my tending it with watering. I have 'Summer Glow' and wouldn't hesitate to move it in your zone. The ones that I have were moved twice last year and once this year! Be careful cutting back agastaches after July. Sometimes, they are okay, other times not. The bottlebrush blooms such as 'Blue Fortune', 'Golden Jubilee', 'Purple Haze', 'Cotton Candy' and 'Black Adder' do well with deadheading down to the NEXT 1 or 2 leaf joints. Cut lower and the whole plant can die (unless there is new basal foliage). More on that... On the western types especially, wait until you see NEW BASAL foliage. You can cut back to the basal foliage as long as it is done no later than end of July (in my zone). This is what I do in the spring and sometimes once more if I think the individual plant really will benefit from it. Let the stems stand over the winter on all varieties (though deadheading just the blooms and not the stems seems to be okay). If you're pushing the cold zone on a variety, place flat rocks around the base of the plants that can heat up on sunny winter days. All that said - some will be short-lived. Cameron From more of my agastache

I am a big fan of agastaches too, and I think people are aware from the above discussion that there are the blue/lavendar agastaches, A. foeniculum and A. rugosa, and then there are a are the various species and hybrids in the pink-apricot-orange range. Both are very useful for me in the garden. In the first group, Blue Fortune is a wonderful long bloomer which grows almost anywhere, blooms for 2 solid months in July and August. There is a relatively newer plant called 'Black Adder' (from this same cross) that has more saturated purplish flowers, and in the few settings I have seen it, looked like an even better plant than 'Blue Fortune (at least if you tend to like more saturated darker colors --I do.....). There is also a brand new plant from this group called 'Purple Haze' which by pictures looks wonderful and is said to be the best of this group. It looks like the 'Heather Queen' above. You can buy it for a small fortune from WFF or wait till it becomes more available. This is just appearing at some of the larger wholesalers so should be much more widely available in a year or two. I think that one of the problems with some plants labelled Blue Fortune is that they may be inferior seedlings from the cross above. I had bad luck overwintering Tutti Frutti (lost 2 plants even in gravel garden with good drainage) but great luck with A. cana, A. rupestris, A. 'Ava' and I think a few others whose names I don't recall. Pay attention to the comments above regarding overwintering. All these are fully hardy in z5 if protected from winter wet. I don't cut any of mine back till spring. A. rupestris is an easy beautiful shrubby plant with attractive silvery foliage even when not in bloom. There are many available from High Country Gardens as stated above. Be careful -- they are addictive and like ordering candy from a candy shop. Once you figure them out, you just want more. And if you love hummingbirds in the garden, and you have other hummer plants, you will want lots of agastaches.

I grew Anise Hyssop from seeds about 12 years ago and had if for three years. It never died all the way back to the ground. Then we had a sewer break under it and it died. Will try reseeding it elsewhere this year. I loved the fragrance and pale lilac flowers. I got Blue Fortune last year and it bloomed all the way to first freeze. It wintered over with no problems and is looking great, even after the last snowstorm. About 8 inches tall already. It never completely died to the ground. The last cold snap three weeks ago did, unfortunately take out all of the tiny seedlings around it that had come up during a two week period of warm weather. In February, I bought a packet of Ferry-Morse 'Apricot Sprite' seeds. I sowed some in the front yard awhile back. They came up and were looking good, but one of my dogs dug in there to bury something. I was UPSET! But I think some seedlings survived. I will sow some out back this coming week. Can't wait for them to bloom! Love the apricot color. One good thing about my sandy soil - it's great for Xeriscape-type plants, like Agastache and Salvias and most herbs. You might try adding sand and gravel to your growing soil where you plant them. ~Annie

Not familiar with 'Black Adder'. Last fall I bought some 'Heatwave' Agastache. It was about 2' tall and in bloom. This year it's been blooming for maybe two months and is more than 4' tall. I've already decided that one patch of it has to be moved next spring. I've found that tags and online descriptions aren't always accurate.