Health & Fitness
It's in the Leaves...Mint Adds Color, Texture and Taste to a Flower Bed
Leaves are underrated as a criteria for choosing garden plants.
I get the point of flower gardening--try, like most perennial gardeners, to keep something blooming all season long. Most of the time, though, the leaves are the parts of a plant that make the biggest statement in a bed. Shapes, textures, even colors matter. A green is not just a green. Mixing herbs or veggies in a perennial garden adds further excitement with taste and smell.
A favorite for me is Lamiaceae, the mint family, in all its reincarnations—plain old mint, chocolate mint, mint with deep green leaves or cream and green patterned ones (pineapple mint). Mint leaves have a distinctive curly or gnarly texture, technically false“whorls”, similar to those of the decorative floral perennial Lamium. Mint is said to be a good “companion plant”, repelling unwanted insects and attracting garden-friendly ones.
Like lamium, mint tends to spread like mad. Mint’s runner-like roots reach out enthusiastically to fill any blank spot around them. People use all sorts of techniques to control the plant’s spread, including potting it in tubs with drain holes. I just let it go. My beds are a bit dry for mint, but where it grows, it is a welcome guest.
