I recently purchased an orange mint. I had one previously that I forgot to water and it died (who knew one could kill a mint...) My older mint was labeled Mentha x piperita 'Orange' which makes sense to me. This one is labeled Mentha aquatica with no cultivar. This is confusing to me. I previously also had a Mentha aquatica which lived for several years as a marginal plant in a small pond (the neighbor puppy recently relocated that one so it's a goner too...) I've emailed the grower asking for clarification and am awaiting their response. Meanwhile, thought I'd check in here. Has anyone else had an orange mint labeled aquatica? The growing directions make no note of it being a marginal plant, just gives the light/height/spacing/zone information. My inclination is to think this is a mislabel and put it under x piperita 'Orange'. Any thoughts?

Is it possible that the orange one was Mentha piperita subsp. citrata or Mentha piperita var. citrata? Both of those are now synonyms for Mentha aquatica.

I no longer have the label for the dead mint, so unsure. I assume Mentha aquatica is a marginal plant, correct?

I don't know anything about mints, but Wikipedia says M. aquatica grows in damp places. It also says that the blooms are "pinkish to lilac" and says nothing about orange blooms.

I don't think the blooms are orange, the leaves just have a bit of an orange scent to them. The M. aquatica I had was clearly a marginal plant, I kept it in a pot submerged in 10" of water year-round. I'll wait to see if the grower can clarify this for me.

If "Orange" was simply meant to suggest the common name (Orange Mint), then it seems likely that it was Mentha piperita subsp. citrata or Mentha piperita var. citrata, which are now synonyms for M. aquatica, rather than a cultivar of M. piperita named "Orange."

Yeah, I noticed at our favorite wholesaler here that they have tons of mints all labeled for their scents, 'orange', 'chocolate', 'grapefruit, 'basil', etc. and they are all M. x piperita so I doubt they are actually cultivar names. There are some real interesting sounding ones; 'Mojito', and 'Swiss Ricola'.

OK, thanks, I'll put it under aquatica. These names can certainly be confusing, big thank you to all you admins keeping up with all the changes!

Swiss Ricola sounds irresistible!