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What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects. |
home> native plant fact sheets> yellow giant hyssop
Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Yellow giant hyssop
Agastache nepetoides (L.) Kuntze
Group: Dicot
Family: Lamiaceae (mint)
Growth Habit: Subshrub Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, most of eastern and central U.S.
Natural Enemies Attracted: Medium numbers of Orius insidiousus, Plagiognathus politus, Thomisidae, Empididae and Chalcidoidea. Small numbers of Coccinellidae,
Salticidae, Nabidae, Cantharidae, Chrysopidae, Chlamydatus associatus and Aeolothripidae.
Pests Attracted: Medium numbers of lygus bugs and leaf beetles. Small numbers of Japanese beetles, leafhoppers and thrips.
Bees attracted: High numbers (more than 5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, and bumble bees.
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| Species Notes: Yellow flower spikes bloomed on this robust plant. Plants filled in during the second year of growth and grew to 4 ft heights. Flower spikes appear green from a distance, with only a few individual yellow flowers open at a time. This species bloomed throughout August. This was one of the less attractive late season native plants to natural enemies, but did have two times more natural enemies than the grass control. |
About the Plant Species Graph:
Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Yellow giant hyssop (Agastache nepetoides) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom.
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Habitat: Full sun to partial sun, and fairly dry to very wet locations. Naturally occurring in meadows, along fencerows, in lowland woods and thickets. Also found in upland deciduous woods.
Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in second year
or third year
) or plug material (flowers in first year
or second year
). We saw no evidence of deer or other vertebrate browsing on this species. It looks best when planted in mass; ideal for naturalizing in semi-shaded moist areas.
Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association
For more information: USDA-NRCS PLANTS database |
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This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer. |
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