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Writer's pictureKimberly Simmen

Native Plant of the Week: Hoary Mountain Mint

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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