Many cooks use hyssop — not to be confused with anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) — in tomato sauces in spite of its medicinal scent and taste. It marries especially well with cranberries, other fruits, and stuffing.

When you have a cold, try inhaling hyssop in steam, or prepare it as tea or a gargle. For cleaning, add a strong hyssop infusion into a solution for scrubbing down your floors.

Attractive to butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees, hyssop is hardy through Zone 3. Hyssop grows up to 2 feet (61 cm) tall and 3 feet (1 m) wide and bears 6-inch (15-cm) spikes of intense blue-violet flowers — brighter and larger than those of anise hyssop, up to a half-inch across with two upper lips and three lower lips — from midsummer to early fall. The leaves are smooth and lance-shaped.

Hyssop needs plenty of sun to keep it from becoming leggy. Otherwise, it needs only light, well-drained soil, and a bit of deadheading and pruning now and then to stimulate growth and keep it tidy. Start it from seed (planted a week or two before the first frost date), cuttings, or divisions.

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