Item description for Official Hyssop Starter Plant Hyssopus Officinalis

A perennial herb in the mint family. The minty sweet taste and aroma with a hint of anise is perfect as a tea but also used sparingly in cooking and cocktails. The spikes of blue flowers are also used by some beekeepers to make a unique sweet and spicy honey that is world renowned. Considered a tender perennial in zones lower and higher on its range, it grows best in zone 6 blooming reliably spring and when cut back and allowed to flush out, heavily again in fall. Here in Zone 9, it was stressed in our summer heat but with some tender care it came back and bloomed for us again in fall. When harvesting for tea the flower stems are cut when in full bloom early in the morning and hung up bundled in a cool dry place for 6 days until it is all separated and chopped up to make the characteristic hyssop tea blend.