27 Types of Mints You Should Grow At Least Once | Best Mint Varieties

There are Types of Mints for everything: For fragrance, grow Eau de Cologne and for cooking, plant Spearmint or Vietnamese mint. If you want to garnish your desserts with fruit-scented herbs, strawberry and apple mints are perfect. Grow peppermint for teas and horsemint for medicinal uses and if you have cats, don’t skip catmint!

Botanical Name: Mentha spicata

Spearmint or Common mint is probably number one when it comes to culinary uses. It has narrow and green leaves with a pleasing scent, milder than peppermint. The herb is also known as Lamb mint because of its special uses in lamb and potato dishes.

Growing Tips

Botanical Name: Mentha × piperita

It is a cross of two mints–Watermint and Spearmint. It has a strong taste, sweet aroma, and cooling, pungent aftertaste, which is why it’s often used in desserts and teas.

Growing Tips

Botanical Name: Mentha suaveolens

This species is also known by various names like Wooly or Pineapple Mint. It has light green round foliage and pale pink flowers that appear from early to mid-summer. The fruity aftertaste makes it special. People use it in tea and for garnishing salads.

Growing Tips 

Botanical Name: Mentha arvensis ‘Banana’

This fruity herb has an aroma that resembles a banana, which attracts bees. Its small lilac-colored flowers bloom throughout the summer. You can use it in ice creams, cookies, muffins, and fruit salads.

Growing Tips

Botanical Name: Mentha × piperita ‘Chocolate Mint’

Chocolate Mint is famous for its minty chocolate-flavored aroma. It goes well in shakes, desserts, and ice-creams. Its round spear-shaped foliage blooms stunning lavender flowers in summers.

Growing Tips

Botanical Name: Mentha aquatica

Watermint, also known as ‘Mentha citrata,’ grows mostly in waterways,