Mints, Part 1

Most perennial mints aren’t perennial in Alaska. There is an Alaskan variety which is perennial (and it is, typically for the genus, wildly invasive) and the ginger mints (Mentha x gracilis, a hybrid of arvensis and spicata) occasionally survive our winters. Both of these flower in the axils, rather than at the terminus.The rest are annuals in our climate, though they can be transplanted to the garden far earlier than most plants, and continue growing until buried in snow.

I generally buy plants of named varieties and plant them in a raised bed where they have only each other to compete with. Here are a few of my favorites:

Corsican Mint (Mentha requinii.) It looks like baby’s tears, but has a very strong mint odor.

Strawberry Mint. I suspect this is a hybrid, and relatively new. It really has a strawberry overtone to its scent.

Variegated Ginger Mint (Mentha x gracilis.)

 

Variegated Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens.) It really does have a pineapple scent.

Orange Mint (Mentha citrata.) More flowery than orange, to my mind.