High Country Gardens develops new perennial

High Country Gardens, a distributor of waterwise perennials, ornamental grasses and cacti, has developed a new, exceptionally tall perennial Agastache ‘Blue Blazes’ to bring pollinators of all types into the garden. In a new video interview posted on the company’s YouTube channel, the nursery’s founder and chief horticulturist, David Salman, discussed the new perennial’s exceptional pollinator qualities.  

“It’s quite tall, up to between four and four and a half feet when it’s mature,” Salman says of the new variety in “Agastache ‘Blue Blazes,’ a Pollinator Paradise,” illustrating the new plant’s towering stance over common perennials, which normally don’t reach heights over two feet tall.

“The other thing that’s very unusual about [‘Blue Blazes’] is that while the Agastaches are very popular with hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, they usually only attract hummingbirds on one hand or bees and butterflies on the other,” he said. “But ‘Blue Blazes,’ the flowers are big enough for the hummingbirds but small enough for the butterflies and bees, so it really is a complete package in terms of bringing these creatures into the garden.”
In a recent news announcement from Feb. 23, Salman recommended planting perennials – plants that endure for more than one growing season – because, “They’re big time and labor savers, and they’re showier and more unusual than some of the more common annuals.”

“Pollinators are really kind of the canary in the coal mine, so when you walk into a garden, you see it full of bees and butterflies and hummingbirds, you know it’s a healthy landscape, that the owners have not been using lots of chemical pesticides and things like that,” Salman said in the new video. “And then on a more practical vein, if folks are into vegetable gardening, it’s vitally important that you have honeybees, as well as the native bees, around to pollinate, particularly melons, cucumbers, squash, to a lesser extent tomatoes and peppers,” he said.

“Blue Blazes. . .flowers from about mid-summer on when, in the garden, your melons and squash and cucumbers and things like that are starting to flower. So, that will help ensure that you get ample pollination on your vegetables and get good fruit set.”

‘Blue Blazes’ is recommended for USDA Zones 5-9. Plants sell for $9.99 each in a 5-inch premium pot, three to six plants for $9.49 each, or 7 or more for $8.99 each.

The nationally recognized mail-order catalog is available online at www.highcountrygardens.com, or by calling 1-800-925-9387.