Wildwood photos

Mountain mint

It looks like mountain mint. Every year I have great luck with insects visiting them at the local nature center.
A few pictures here or here.
Should I get a few for you next year when they have their native plant sale?

… Beatriz Moisset, 20 July, 2008 - 5:26pm

omg!

that looks exactly like it!!! thank you so much!!!!

Thank you for your very kind offer, but my mom went back and snatched a little baby one of them that was growing up (sshhhh!!!!). we are planning on gowing it in a pot until spring and then planting it outside.
from what people have been telling me, they grow and spread fast?

hhmmm, so it is a native plant! interesting!

PS: here is a photo of our little plant which seems to have perked up very well

… Vespula Vulgaris, 20 July, 2008 - 9:06pm

Mint?

I don't recognize the plant, but if it is a mint (square stems) that would explain why there are a horde of different kinds of bees, and wasps when my mint patch blooms. If you get a small stem and put it in water till roots form, take it out and put it in a damp section of your garden and stand back! Oh, and don't expect to see anything but mint there ever again.

… Doug Mansfield, 20 July, 2008 - 1:18pm

It's definitely in the mint family

possibly in the genus Pycnanthemum, but I'm not sure. Did you get an overall shot of the plant?

Native plants that are not particularly showy are sometimes hard to find locally, but if your state has a native plant society they may be able to give you ideas of where to buy. You might also try starting cuttings if you can get permission to take some - mints are usually pretty easy to root.

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 20 July, 2008 - 11:59am

Thank you very much for

the info! its a start!
no, I did not think to get a photo of the whole plant. although this photo shows the leaves a bit...

If I go back I will definitly ask the park people if I can take a small piece. thanks for your help!
And to tell you the truth, I'm not surprised that its in the mint family. we have mint plants in our yard that smell like mint and some species of wasps are attracted to the flowers, although no where near as many species as these other plants.

… Vespula Vulgaris, 20 July, 2008 - 12:53pm

FYI

I get lots of wasps and bees coming to my regular mint, as well as to the mint family relatives: marjoram, oregano, and basil. I grow them all from seed and then they reseed themselves each year. I've noticed that the marjoram and oregano get many of the smaller wasps. I plant all of these in large pots (at least 12in diameter), and never in my garden b/c they are all pretty invasive if you put them in the ground.

… Nina, 21 July, 2008 - 1:32pm

Mint is invasive...

but not the others you mentioned. Mint sends out runners that start new plants at some distance. The others just make a clump that gets wider (except for basil, which is an annual and usually has just the one stem).

Hyssop, lavender, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, savory and thyme are also in the same family. Thyme is an excellent bee plant, especially since the plants are small enough to bring indoors in climates where they wouldn't survive the winter.

A few others that are native: Bee Balm (Monarda), Licorice Mint (Agastache) and Wild Pennyroyal (Hedeoma).

The family as a whole seems to be strongly adapted for bee-pollination (with a few exceptions)

… Chuck Entz, 22 July, 2008 - 7:52am