At The Healing Herb Garden, we grow a huge variety of mints. There are bright citrus scents, deep peppermint notes, sweet dessert-like varieties and leaves that make you stop mid-step simply because you have brushed against them.
Every one of them grows in a pot.
This is partly good garden management and partly self-defence.
Why We Keep Mint in Containers
Mint spreads through vigorous underground stems. In open ground, a modest young plant can begin behaving as though it has been granted ownership of the entire garden.
Pots allow us to keep each variety separate, control its spread and preserve the individual scents and flavours that make a mint collection so interesting. Container growing also makes it easier to compare varieties side by side and move them when conditions change.
The trade-off is that potted mint needs regular watering in dry weather and occasional dividing and repotting. Mint may be enthusiastic, but it still expects room service.
The Mint I Always Stop to Smell
My favourite mint for fragrance has to be Eucalyptus Mint.
Its scent is fresh, cool and distinctive—the sort of fragrance that makes me rub a leaf between my fingers every time I pass, despite already knowing perfectly well what it smells like. Gardeners are allowed to repeat small pleasures.
It is one of the varieties that demonstrates why mint deserves to be explored as a collection rather than treated as a single generic herb. Two pots may look broadly similar from a distance, but one crushed leaf tells a completely different story.
→ Shop Eucalyptus Mint
Chocolate Mint, Black Mint and a Summer Cordial
This summer, we used Chocolate Mint and Black Mint in our Mint & Elderflower Cordial.
Chocolate Mint brings a sweet, rounded fragrance, while Black Mint contributes a stronger, cooler mint character. Together with freshly gathered elderflowers and lemon, they created a cordial that tasted unmistakably of the garden.
There is always a satisfying moment when plants grown for months suddenly meet in a recipe. Until then, they have occupied separate pots and required separate watering. In the jug, they finally become cooperative.
→ Make our Mint & Elderflower Cordial
Mint, Myth and Hospitality
Mint has gathered stories almost as enthusiastically as it gathers territory.
In Greek mythology, the nymph Minthe was transformed into the fragrant plant associated with her name. Another classical story, told by Ovid, describes the elderly Baucis and Philemon wiping their humble table with fresh mint before welcoming unexpected guests. It is a lovely historical link between mint, fragrance and hospitality—and much more appealing than my usual method of clearing a space on the kitchen table at the last minute.
For centuries, strongly scented herbs were valued not only for food and traditional preparations but also for bringing fragrance into domestic spaces. Mint still performs that role beautifully today. Simply brushing the foliage releases enough scent to change the atmosphere around a doorway, path or seating area.
The Pleasure of Building a Collection
The danger of growing unusual mints is that every new variety provides a reason to try another.
One may be best for tea. Another belongs in cold summer drinks. Chocolate Mint invites experiments with desserts, while a powerful peppermint is the one I want when I am seeking that unmistakable cool fragrance.
Keeping them in individual pots turns the collection into a small apothecary of scents and flavours. It also means I can pick exactly the mint I want instead of discovering that one vigorous variety has quietly swallowed all the labels.
→ Build Your Own Mint Collection
→ Explore the Mint Apothecary
A Few Lessons from Our Mint Pots
- Give each variety its own pot to prevent unwanted mixing and spreading.
- Use containers with good drainage, but do not allow the compost to dry out completely.
- Pick regularly to encourage fresh, bushy growth.
- Divide and repot congested plants every few years.
- Keep labels secure—mint identification becomes considerably harder after a winter storm rearranges them.
- Position favourite varieties where you will brush past and enjoy their fragrance.
Our mint apothecary is practical, productive and slightly addictive. There is always another scent to discover, another drink to try and, apparently, always room for one more pot.
→ Return to Gardens We Grow
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