Arlene, I'm not sure. There are so many varieties of mint and so many uses of each variety I tend to think that it is one of those plants like the dandelion, it's simply a survivor. People used to use it to reclaim land because of its ability to survive and the ability to spread far and wide. I know most of those used for culinary and medicinal purposes are true survivors and that's what I have.

On the other hand, sage, hyssop and lavender are in the same family as mint, but aren't considered invasive. They are reliable and dependable survivors, but they just don't spread.

I had lemon mint one time, it was just like the lavender, stayed in one spot. Maybe the orange and pineapple would do the same.

Did your son give a reason for using it as an underplanting? Maybe it has something to do with deterring pests in the orchard. They are good for that, most of them, I think.

My family used bee balm, same family as the mint again, along with mint on the bank of the creek that ran alongside our house. Spring rains came and the creek would overflow and cause erosion. Mint and bee balm helped solve that problem.

I'm not giving you a good answer because I don't know, but I'll see if I can find anything more about it. If I do, I'll let you know for sure!

@dave and @Trish mentioned during their herb podcast something about under planting in orchards. I think it had to do with attracting bees though - not sure. I usually take notes during their podcasts but I didn't on that one.

I didn't save my notes from the fruit tree classes I attended.

Look up 'Orchard underplanting' and you will find different plants and the reasons why each is beneficial.
For example, umbelliferae family - carrots,etc - attract a wasp which is beneficial to apple trees as the wasp's target is the apple maggot.

Good to know, thanks Vic and Greene. I wasn't even considering the good insects they might be attracting.

Well, the bee hives are just north of the orchard so maybe to deter pests AND for the bees?

Could be.

I have a love/hate relationship with mint. Kind of like Pluto and Persephone. I love it, but am afraid to grow it for fear it will take over everything like the chocolate mint did many years ago at the front of my house. But I love going to my mom's and smelling her spearmint. She has it contained in a retaining wall around the garage and it smells so good!

Thanks for another great article chock full of good information, Sharon!

I love walking through apple mint too. Delightful smells of bruised leaves. But I just had to fight back in one part of my garden this week. The mint was strangling other plants.

Vickie, thanks, I'm having an invasion of the mint brigade right now myself. I'm trying to get it all contained into planters and pots, but that's like trying to count grains of sand. And I just had a call from a friend yesterday telling me she had a pot of chocolate mint ready for me. Oh boy. I'm on my way to buy a large container. I love mint, and I use it often, but the problem is also that I can't turn it down when it's offered. It's an addiction.

@Gleni apple mint?? I don't have apple mint. Oh goodness, something new to look for. Do you use it for anything more than the scent? Is it good in teas?

I have this vision of a garden divided into sections, nothing but mint growing, with each flavor in a section of its own. It really is an invasive problem, but I guess there could be worse addictions.

@Sharon, I tracked down the label. Mentha sauveolens

Apple Mint (variegated)

Here is an image of the Variegated Apple Mint by photographer Kor!An (Андрей Корзун) in Russia,
image located on Creative Commons.

WOW! The two of you have been busy. Thanks, @Gleni , I'm going to be looking for apple mint, I have only one great nursery here but maybe . . .

That's a beautiful clump of variegated mint, @Greene , I can almost smell the scent just by looking, and aren't the white edges just so pretty! It seems a bit toothier on the edges than the other mints, and that gives it a dainty look, or maybe it's the white. Very nice. Thank you!

I'm potting up some chocolate mint this morning. Smells so good I might never wash my hands today.

I've obviously lost my lemon mint, though, rough winter. That one needs replacing for sure.

Love that variegated apple mint!
Is lemon balm different from lemon mint? I have lemon balm that comes back every year, even after this past harsh winter.

I saw Chocolate mint at the nursery today but I didn't buy it. Don't want it to spread all over the place. It was a very nice looking plant though.

I had to look this up to be sure I knew what I was talking about, Renee, but here it is:

Lemon balm is Melissa officinalis and Lemon mint is Monarda citriodora. I was sure about the mint, not so sure about the balm. However they are all in the Lamiaceae family which means also that the mints sort of all look alike, but size and texture of foliage are a little different in each. Both are medicinal herbs though, or used to be. I can't remember the scent of the Lemon balm, but the scent of some of the monardas are minty but not as good as spearmint other more common mints. I don't like the monarda scent very much.

I love mints, Rita, and most spread including the Monardas (bee balm). The chocolate mint is low growing and I keep it in a tub shaped pot so that it doesn't spread. My other mints are everywhere, everywhere. . . . and that is what I've been doing all day long. Cutting back and pulling out wayward mint. I really do smell good!!

Sharon said:. . . . and that is what I've been doing all day long. Cutting back and pulling out wayward mint. I really do smell good!!

I cannot believe I didn't realize lemon mint was Monarda! I have some lemon balm. Lemon balm is too strong for me. Almost has that soapy smell to me because it's so strong. But we keep a good stand of it because the bees love it. I really will need to contain is soon though.

@Newyorkrita Rita, if you keep the chocolate mint in a pot it will be fine, and it smells so good!!!

Sharon, I got an apple mint when I was in MI but it is not varigated. I would be happy to take some cuttings to send you though. It's a hairy mint, like pineapple. My pineapple mint is varigated. If you need some of it, I'd be happy to send you some!

If you tear a leaf of Monarda -- just regular beebalm --and tear a a leaf of lemon mint you almost can't tell the difference, Arlene.

Here's another weird example: today I was saving some peppermint that I yanked out for my florist, who knows nothing about herbs, but anyway....I gave her spearmint the other day and she wanted peppermint, and even though I warned her, she still wanted it so . . I went to the other side of the particular garden and saw more mint but the leaves looked a little smaller. I pinched a leaf and smelled a yucky scent. I couldn't figure what it was but I have catnip at the far end of that garden too and it smells not too great to me. So I thought what I had found was wayward catnip and it really doesn't spread as much as the others. So I tear off an entire leaf, not very lemony but truly not a nice scent. I looked at where I was standing right in the middle of a few clumps of irises and realized about 3 or 4 years ago I had monarda there, but we had a severe drought then we had this past agonizing winter and I had not seen that bee balm in a few years. Welllll -- it's baaaaaaack.

And the point of all this stinky mint story is that there are many many many types of what we call mint scents, the plants are square stemmed, hairy leafed, serrated usually, so it's difficult to tell which is which especially when you've been yanking around in all of them at the same time. But I will tell you this, I love mint tea, but not from the monarda family. I mostly use lemon mint just for slight seasoning sometimes on fish or a sprinkle on a salad. It just isn't my favorite. Love the chocolate though, just to swish my hands through and walk right on by.

And so ends a very minty gardening day . . . whew.

Sharon.

So okay. Just What does one do with the chocolate mint besides sniffing the leaves?

Isn't that enough?

I think some people use it in baking. But I just sniff it!!!

It has to be more useful than that for me to grow it.