Of all the plants that I would recommend most everyone include in their garden, mountain mint or Pycnanthemum muticum would be near the top of this list. I knew of mountain mint before moving to Maine but really had not paid it a lot of attention because someone had first described the plant to me as being weedy and too floppy for the well-kept garden. I now wish that I would not have taken that person at their word and tried mountain mint on my own.

In this age when more and more gardeners of all levels are looking for good native plants, here is an herbaceous perennial native to most of the eastern US states, including Texas. It can tolerate periodic drought, is relatively pest resistant (including deer!), and pollinators love the flowers. On top of all of the good qualities of Pycnanthemum, the leaves also have a wonderful smell like peppermint oil. The leaves contain the essential oil pulegone, which can act as an insect repellant. If you rub mountain mint on your skin, the pulegone oil from the leaves can help deter mosquitoes.

Mountain mint has attractive, pointed leaves and while the pink flowers may be extremely small, their silvery bracts are beautiful when the plants are massed. We can plant our mountain mint in the full sun here in Maine but as you move southward, you probably want to give the plants more shade. Pycnanthemum can survive many different soil types but will do best in soils that stay moderately moist. If your soils are rich, loose, and moist yet well-drained (i.e. perfect gardening soil), you definitely want to give Pycnanthemum muticum some room to run. The plant will spread, once established, via stolons that emanate from the main clump. Mountain mint grows best in USDA hardiness zones 4-8 and again, I would recommend that you provide a bit more shade and moisture, the higher the number of your hardiness zone.

As you begin to edit your garden this fall and think about changes for 2015, be sure to consider adding mountain mint as it is a wonderful native with a beautiful appearance and is great at attracting pollinators including our native butterflies.

– Rodney