We planted a number of these last year at the library where I work, mostly full sun. They've grown very well with little special attention. Now they are covered in blooms, and bringing in lots of different bees and wasps. Great choice for native garden in Mid Atlantic area.

Reply to this comment

If you've driven on a country road and noticed plants that look like their tops have been spray-painted, chances are it's this plant. Upright stems usually 2 to 4 feet tall are topped with hemispherical flower heads with the same configuration as Bee Balm. Flowers are in dense clusters of white suffused with green and pale pink spots. The white coloring extends down from the flowers including stems and leaves for 6 to 12 inches. Plants really do look like they've been painted. Hillside/Mountain Mint will grow in full sun or light shade. It takes dry or moist conditions and grows locally here in Tennessee on chert and red clay banks. Its leaves and stems are also extremely aromatic. Just watering plants in pots will fill a greenhouse with a fresh herbal-mint fragrance. With its white upper parts on display for the latter third of the growing season, this plant is something a bit unusual for the woods' edge or border of a natural area. (Sunlight Gardens)

Reply to this comment