Promising Plants Profiles

Calamintha nepeta

Genus: Calamintha
Specific Epithet: nepeta
Common Name: lesser calamint
Family: Lamiaceae (mint)

Flower Color: white or light purple
Form: perennial
Hardiness Zone: 5-8
Height: 18''
Width: 20-30''
Soil: average soil
Sun: full sun

Uses: craft, culinary (limited*), medicinal, ornamental

Calamintha nepeta, lesser calamint

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Calamintha nepeta is a workhorse perennial for any garden with full sun. It flowers from June thru October with a cloud of white or light purple flowers. Lesser calamint thrives in any average garden soil and grows to about 18 inches tall. Another wonderful attribute of this plant is that the entire plant smells strongly of peppermint. Lesser calamint makes a wonderful edging plant to pass by along a walk or garden border, so you can enjoy the minty fragrance as well as the flowers. *According to The Big Book of Herbs, lesser calamint is not considered GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe), but its fragrant plant parts can be enjoyed in potpourri. It is hardy from zone 5 to 8 and should be in every garden that has some spot with full sun.
– James Adams, Curator of the National Herb Garden, Promising Plants Presentation, 2003

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