A small delicate looking mint with an interesting banana aroma to the leaves, this makes a delicious tea and is a good culinary herb for sweets and desserts. Like other mints, the flowers are very attractive to bees. 9x9cm pot (8cm depth)
Description
- Will trail in a pot
- Aromatic
- Easy to grow
- Excellent for tea
As well as a culinary herb and its use in confectionary, mint has traditionally been used as a tea for treating headaches and digestive disorders, in modern medicine it is widely used in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract disorders and relieving wind and colic. The flowers are very attractive to bees and it is thought to be a mouse and rat repellent. This mint is fun to grow with its waft of banana scent and can be added to sweet dishes, it also makes a lovely caramel tasting tea.
Plant care
- Height: 30-60cm
- Type: Hardy
- Aspect: Sun/shade
- Soil: Any/alkaline
- Flower colour: Purple
- Flowering period: July - September
On the whole mints are fast growing perennials that love good rich soil and grow in both sun and shade successfully. Planted in heavy soils they spread rapidly and unless you have plenty of space can become a bit of a menace, in lighter soils their spread is limited and in very dry summers they can die. Most people grow their mints in containers and in the first year they are usually gorgeous and lush, it is in the second year when they emerge again in spring that the leaves are tiny and grow mostly around the edges of the container. This is because they grow so fast that the roots have filled the container completely and though addition feeding helps, there is just not enough oomph left in the soil to support a vigorous plant. The roots of banana mint tends to be more fragile and not quite as invasive as some other mints and in spring it can re-invigorated by tipping it from its pot and taking about a third of the root ball away, before replanting it back in the container with fresh compost. As a shorter more straggly mint, it grows well in containers and pots where it will trail.
Usage
This unusually aromatic mint makes a surprisingly sweet mellow tea, not at all banana flavoured, which is delicious chilled and served with ice in summer. It can be added to fruity desserts, ice cream and cocktails. The pretty flowers that appear along the stems are popular with bees and pollinating insects