Pycnanthemum virginianum

When viewed up close, Virginia mountain mint’s ruffled flowerheads reveal numerous white blossoms delicately spotted with violet. The flowers provide accessible nectar to short and long tongued pollinators, forming a nucleus for foraging bees, flies, wasps, and small butterflies in midsummer.

An inhabitant of wet meadows, fields, and thickets, Virginia mountain mint prefers full sun and average – moist soil, but tolerates partial shade. The plant is at home in areas of consistent moisture and is a good choice for damp parts of the yard. When grown in the average moisture condition typical of most garden beds, Virginia mountain mint will do quite well but may require water during summer dry spells. Due to the plant’s fairly wide wetness tolerance it’s a great choice for a rain garden.

Virginia mountain mint spreads by short rhizomes to form a colony of plants that will slowly expand into adjacent unvegetated areas. To limit the plant’s spread, simply push a garden spade into the ground in the springtime, severing the rhizomes. Unwanted sprouts can then be hand-pulled. 

Virginia mountain mint forms a shapely patch of plants that remains at a modest 2-3’ height. It provides an attractive white floral option in midsummer, and works very well in combination with purple coneflower, grey-headed coneflower, swamp milkweed, and many other July-blooming wildflowers. Due to the plant’s extremely high pollinator value, it is an outstanding addition to any pollinator garden.

References: 1,2,3.

Photo 1 by Pobrito, CC0 1.0. Photo 2 by Ashley Keesling. Photo 3 by Julie Slater.