Our Magical Mint Corner

I love a good fragrant foliage, don’t you?

Sea Change Farm has some shady spots where it’s difficult for us to grow most flowers. This year, we’ve experimented with growing foliage there instead.

Everybody says not to plant mint in your garden, because it will take over. So I wondered if that would make mint the perfect choice for this challenging microclimate in our field!

And, surprise surprise: mint is the MVP of this shady little corner.

Tough, pollinator-friendly, perennial, and of course amazing-smelling, mint is transforming our shady spots until lush, green beds.

We’re growing a bunch of different varieties of mint. Let me introduce you to some of them.

Mountain Mint

Mountain mint is a native mint that is found all over North America in various forms. It’s actually a family of over 20 different mint species!

So far, we’ve added two types of mountain mint to our collection: a thin-leaved mountain mint, and a broad-leaved one.

When it flowers, the mountain mint patch is one of the best places to find pollinators, including bees, butterflies, wasps, lady bugs, and even a humming bird on occasion.

I love arranging with our broad-leaved mountain mint especially because it has such a unique soft dusty green color, with a velvety texture that adds a special touch to anything we use it in.

Variegated Pineapple Mint

This might be the most beautiful mint that we grow! This mint has delicately-patterned white and green leaves that give it a very sophisticated look.

Pineapple mint has a strong citrusy smell, maybe not exactly like pineapple, but tangier than a typical mint. Harvesting it is a sensory experience!

My one gripe about this mint: it’s short! Dear pineapple mint, please grow taller next year, so that we can use you in more types of arrangements and bouquets.

Chocolate Mint

My award for best-smelling mint always goes to chocolate mint.

I’ve grown chocolate mint pretty much everywhere I’ve lived, because I love it so much! It makes wonderful tea.

Chocolate mint also makes a wonderful foliage for cut flower arrangements. It has a darker stem and dark leaves that add a nice depth of color to our bouquets.

Chocolate mint was also the most aggressive mint this year! We had to do some hard pruning on it to keep it from taking over our pathways. But, I don’t mind pruning chocolate mint–more tea for me 🙂

Apple Mint

Apple mint has big, soft leaves, bigger than I’ve seen on any other type of mint. It’s also got thicker, stronger stems than the other types of mint we grow.

Once our apple mint is flowered, I fell even more in love with it!

Apple mint flowers on long, wiggly, “fingers” that are so whimsical and fun. I’ve been really enjoying the texture they bring to our bouquets and arrangements. I used apple mint flowers in my wedding bouquet!

Take a big whiff of your next flowers from us: you’ll probably smell some mint in there. I am loving these new herbs in our field. I’m so grateful that mint is the magical solution for our shady back corner.

Do you have a favorite kind of mint? Any mints that you think we should add to our collection? Let me know!