Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo #1?
The answer to last week’s mystery is mountain mint, Pycnanthemum species, pictured in photo #2.
Mountain mint, Pycnanthemum species, is a group of native North American perennials in the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus contains an estimated twenty species, and its name comes from Greek words meaning “dense flower,” referring to the tightly packed clusters of blooms. Most mountain mints grow 1–3′ tall, forming upright, bushy clumps or spreading ground covers with slightly fuzzy, silvery-green foliage.
The small, tubular flowers are white to lavender, often dotted with purple, and appear among pale leafy bracts that make the flower clusters especially noticeable. Like other members of the mint family, mountain mints have square stems and strongly fragrant foliage. The crushed leaves and flowers have a minty flavor and can be used in teas, cocktails, and both sweet and savory dishes. Deer, rabbits, groundhogs, and voles usually leave the aromatic plants alone.
Mountain mint grows best in full sun and spreads vigorously by underground rhizomes, though it is generally easy to control by cutting around the roots with a shovel in Spring. Seeds require a period of cold stratification and can be sown outdoors in late Fall or started indoors 6–8 weeks before the final frost. Extremely cold-hardy, with some species surviving into Zone 3, mountain mint brings fragrance, texture, and dense Summer flowers to native and pollinator gardens. Leaving the seed heads standing also provides Winter interest and food for birds.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
