Mint: Incredible Variety, Invasive Habit

The mint family offers tremendous diversity of refreshing scents and tastes for cooking, beverages, and potpourri. But as a garden plant, mint is invasive—it will take over the entire bed. Consider confining it to containers.

About This Plant

Spearmint is most common in the kitchen for mint juleps, sauces, jellies, teas, and fruit salads. Very fragrant, 2–3 feet tall with pale violet mid-to-late summer blooms. Peppermint has strong aroma, grows to 3 feet with smooth 1–3 inch leaves. A dozen+ other varieties exist, including fruit-scented types like orange mint.

Site Selection

Choose a site in full sun to part shade with moist soil. Or, due to invasiveness, grow in containers filled with compost-enriched potting mix.

Planting Instructions

For a full bed, start with 1–2 purchased plants set 2 feet apart in a sunny location—they'll quickly fill in.

Care

Use light mulch to retain moisture and keep leaves clean. Container plants need regular watering to keep soil evenly moist. Otherwise, mint needs little care.