Are you looking for an interesting perennial plant? - One that will come up year after year with little trouble? Preferably a plant that attracts bees, and perhaps one that also has health giving properties. Try the mint group.

Mints have a lot going for them as garden plants. Many, but not all, mints belong to the genus Mentha. Most of them are easy-to-grow – requiring only a moist soil in sun or semi-shade. They are ideal for tubs and pots.

Mint for sweets

It is the volatile oils that we taste and smell in mint. The Mentha plant group has antiseptic, decongestant and analgesic properties. Mentha x piperita is especially rich in menthol. This is the peppermint taste we experience when we eat mint chocolate. The leaves may also be added to pot-pourris for their aromatic qualities.

Would you believe there are Chocolate, Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime varieties of Mentha x piperita f. citrata? The distinct Eau de Cologne form, with its bronze-purple, sweetly scented leaves and mauve flowers, once romped happily in my garden, until a kind helper weeded it out! Recently I purchased a small replacement. Flowering time of these mints is usually in summer.

For further interest add redmint or ginger mint (M. x gracilis), or its form ‘Variegata’. Pineapple mint (M. suaveolens ‘Variegata’) is an attractive form that bears leaves with cream margins and dark green centres.

The choice Bowles’ mint (M. x villosa var. alopecuroides) is easily recognised due to its hairy leaves. This is a hybrid between Apple mint or woolly mint (M. suaveolens) and M. spicata. Spikes of pink flowers arise in summer.

Mint for sauce

Field mint (Mentha arvensis) has anti-bacterial uses, and is also beneficial for digestion. This wild mint has long been associated with mint tea. Enthusiasts might look for the varieties M. arvensis var. villosa – or piperascens, Japanese mint (hardy to – 15 C).

Spearmint (M. spicata) leaves can be chopped fresh or dried and crumpled to make mint sauce - traditionally served with roast lamb. To make the tea, pour boiling water over the bright green leaves and top up with vinegar. A pinch of sugar can be added. This mint is a common one, but had you heard of Tashkent mint (M.spicata ‘Tashkent’)?

Catmints

Did you know that there is more than one form of catmint? There’s catmint, also called catnip – the well-known Nepeta cataria. Cats absolutely adore this plant. The species contains citronella, a substance also found in Melissa officinalis. The leaves are used to make herb tea or, when dried, to stuff toys for cats. The hardy, lemon-scented N. c. ‘Citriodora’ is a choice cultivar. One of several other catmints is Nepeta racemosa.

Flower arrangers’ mint

Buddleja mint (Mentha longifolia) is a good choice for flower arrangers. And bees like buddleja mint too. Plants from this group reach a height of approximately 3ft, (1m) and produce greyish leaves and pink-purple flowers. It is also worth searching for the variegated form.

The pungently aromatic, creeping Pennyroyal (M. pulegium), could be chosen for a spot between paving stones, while watermint (M. aquatica) will grow better beside a pool. And for the gardener who doesn’t want a spreading plant, there is the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum). Note that this is not a true mint; but butterflies favour the pale pink flowers.

Mints in raised beds

Mints can be grown and tended by anyone with the smallest outdoor space – including people in wheelchairs. Container gardening suits mint, since confining plants in pots to check their vigorous root systems (which can be very invasive of other more delicate subjects in garden beds) is the best way to cultivate most of them.

For the handicapped gardener a raised bed is recommended, in which a selection of interesting mints can be planted in individual containers ‘pot n all’. Leave space between them, so that the size of the containers can be increased as the mints become established.

There are many more mints to collect. Look out for some of the best varieties in herb gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show or one of the other large shows.