
Kudos ™ Mandarin forms dense, compact clumps with upright branches. They can be used to make tea of, for scenting fresh salads, and pastries when making cooked desserts – the essence brings not only perfume but also anise taste. They contain an essence which is readily activated by just a soft touch and the foliage ejects a dose of anise and lemon perfume. The leaves are medium green, matte, shallowly serrated at margins, oval up along the stems and twice as large and triangular at the bottom. Blooming lasts a long time and continues until the last warm and sunny days of early autumn. It is an early one starting to bloom as early as in late June, producing loose, terminal spikes with narrowly tubular, rich mandarin orange with a darker calyx atop about 40 cm tall stems. Kudos ™ Mandarin is a great success among perennial agastache, as it is one of the few reliably hardy orange-flowering varieties. They are included in the KUDOS™ series and are characterized by excellent hardiness down to at least -24 ° C while some might survive down to -29 ° C. She used only the reliable clones and varieties to produce new hybrids in 7 colours in total. She is an acclaimed breeder of perennials at the Oregon-based Terra Nova Nurseries, and even though she is renowned as a heuchera specialist, this time she targeted at breeding hardy hyssops. However, it is so beautiful in full bloom that despite its rather short life many breeders work on achieving new hybrids that can cope with zone 6 winters provided suitable conditions.

There are a number of hyssop species found in mostly temperate climate and only a few of them can survive winters of zones 5 or 6.
