Mentha and other mints

[plantsman2006]

Let me preface this post by saying that I am a plant fanatic and a seriously fanatical collector. I am trained as a vascular plant taxonomist. That said, I have a large collection of Mentha ( perennial mints) at least 90 taxa ( all grown as clones). Many of these came from the National Germplasm Collection at Corvalis Oregon. I am also interested in many other taxa with the "mint" fragrance: such as Monarda and Hedeoma. I am very willing to trade as the plants need to be restarted each year, they are in pots. I would easily be able to divide off small chunks for trade. I am always looking for new wild or cultivated germplasm. I am really not looking for some of the new named cultivars, most of them are unnameable...and not that impressive. THe list is too long to put in here, but email me and I can send it.

Stan Tyson
USDA old map zone 5
Illinois

[Hristo]

I'm Mentha fan too (who is not btw , but my collection is small at the moment. Since you have quite many varieties/forms... I can't miss the chance to ask you which are your favorites. I'm asking for the ones that has appetizing aroma, not the ones with perfumey fragrance. Most wild menthas around here do not has good enough aroma IMO. The most interesting one I have is a well known - the banana mint. Often the names are (intentionally) very misleading, but this one really smells just like banana. I have and one called Strawberry mint and when I got it it really had a faint strawberry aroma, but since then I can find that aroma instead now I find it not good at all. Probably need to try growing it at shade?!

I like some of the monardas I have grown. Have not grown any hedeomas. I find some of Pycnanthemum species I have quite good smelling - very much like peppermint.

[rowan]

How are you off for Australian native mentha sp? Mine are flowering right now and I can send seeds later if you like. I only have one species growing in my garden but can probably get one or two others as well.

[Deleted]

Lagochilus inebrians, Hyptis emoryi, Clinopodium douglasii, Perilla frutescens var. crispa f. purpurea, and hyssops are interesting to me, as well as Stachys affinis and it's medicinal relatives.

I have no idea what could compliment such an impressive collection but have orange mint (peppermint X aquatic mint) and white variegated pineapple mint, off the top of my head. Mature leaves of my orange-scented mint are dark purple underneath. It's youngest leaves look blackish in the cold. My other Labiatae include Salvias, Lavandulas, and Melissa.

[plantsman2006]

Hi all! Thanks for your comments. There is a huge range of variation in this collection. I added greatly to the collection in July of last year, so did not have time to really evaluate many of them. I will do that this year. The easy one will be to seperate the Menthol bearing taxa from the non Menthol plants, but in both types there are "sweet (culinary)" types and "medicinal" types. THis season I plant th grow them well and evaluate all of them again. I do think I am more partial to the peppermints and the pennyroyals. There are a few clones that do not fit these classifications.