Family: Lamiaceae
Name: Pycnanthemum incanum
Bloom Time: July-September
Flower: Large flower heads with tiny white/purple spotted flowers
Soil Condition: Dry, average, moist
Light: Sun, partial sun
Height/Width: 3-4'/3'
Native Range: Eastern US including Long Island
Zone: 4-8
Photos (KMS Native Plants): flower with bumble bee, flower with ambush bug (beneficial insect), flower with common gold-marked thread-waisted wasp
Mountain mints are in the top ten of pollinator plants. This one is my favorite. It has the largest flowers of the local mountain mints and it blooms for 6 weeks! Hoary Mountain Mint is aggressive and needs plenty of room spread (up to 3'). The shallow roots are easy to remove. It is great mixed into a cottage garden, meadow, and low-maintenance gardens. It is great in a container and makes a great fresh-cut or dried flower.
Maintenance: None necessary. May be cut back by half in early June to keep it tidy and to be more floriferous
Benefits: Nectar source, pollinators, beneficial insects, deer resistant, drought tolerant, host plant to the wavy-lined emerald moth caterpillars
Companion Plants: Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), Rudbeckia hirta (brown-eyed susan), Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem), Andropogon gerardii (big blue stem), Liatris scariosa (Devil's Bite)
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