Mint 'Hillary's Sweet Lemon'

Mint 'Hillary's Sweet Lemon' (Mentha 'Hillary's Sweet Lemon') smells so good that you want to rub a leaf between your fingers right there in the bed. It is fresh lemon with an apple note and a light menthol undertone, without the sharp bite of peppermint. The plant is low and tidy, with toothed green leaves.

Grow it in containers and herb beds for tea, lemonade and desserts; a pot also keeps the creeping rootstock in hand, since in open ground it spreads fast. The plant is 10-50 cm tall and 50-100 cm wide. In summer it adds pale violet spikes that look perfectly at home even in an ornamental border.

Key characteristics:

• What makes it special: The scent is milder than peppermint: fresh lemon with an apple note and a light menthol undertone, without the sharp bite.
• Dimensions: A little bush 10-50 cm tall that spreads to 50-100 cm wide in 10 years.
• Hardiness: It overwinters in the open ground down to -20 °C (USDA zone 6) and needs no cover.
• Flowering: In June-August delicate pale violet spikes rise above the foliage.
• Light: Full sun or partial shade - any aspect will do: south, north, east or west.
• Soil: It takes any soil easily - chalk, clay, loam or sand, with acid, neutral or alkaline pH, as long as it is moist and well-drained.
• Watering: Water regularly to keep the soil moist; the one thing this mint dislikes is standing water at the roots.
• Care: Plant it in a container to keep the spread in bounds, cut the stems back to ground level each year and divide the clump every few years.
• Landscape use: A herb or apothecary bed, containers and pots on the terrace, path edges - so a leaf is always within reach.