Mountain mint

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

Moderate

As a honey crop

Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus

Which bees, and why

The flowers are so small and so shallow that nothing is excluded — tiny sweat bees, wasps, flies, beetles and butterflies work it alongside honey bees, which is exactly why its species counts are so high.

Worth knowing

Repeatedly recorded as attracting more pollinator species than any other plant in comparative garden trials, and a genuinely outstanding choice for insect diversity rather than for honey volume.

Flowering

In flower

July to September (northern hemisphere)

A long midsummer-to-autumn flowering that covers the American late-summer gap.

When nectar flows

Generous and continuously renewed across a very large number of tiny flowers, which is why the insect counts on it are so high.

What it does to the honey

Rarely yields a surplus on its own. Its contribution to a mixed summer honey is a light minty herbal lift.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun to light shade on average to moist soil. Undemanding.

Size

0.6-1.2 m.

Native range

Eastern and central North America, in meadows, prairie edges and open woodland.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Meadow or wildflower area

• Spreads by rhizome, more politely than true mints but not indefinitely politely.
• If a border can hold one plant chosen purely for the number of insect species it supports, this is a strong candidate.

What it looks like

Upright square stems with narrow aromatic leaves, the uppermost dusted silvery white, and flat-topped clusters of very small white flowers spotted with purple.