27 Types of Mints You Should Grow At Least Once | Best Mint Varieties

Have a look at the best Types of Mints that you must grow once! These Mint Varieties are also great for pots on your balcony or kitchen windowsill!

There are Types of Mints for everything: For fragrance, grow Eau de Cologne and for cooking, plant Spearmint or Vietnamese mint. If you want to garnish your desserts with fruit-scented herbs, strawberry and apple mints are perfect. Grow peppermint for teas and horsemint for medicinal uses and if you have cats, don’t skip catmint!

Check out our article on growing mint here

Types of Mints

1. Spearmint

Botanical Name: Mentha spicata

Spearmint or Common mint is probably number one when it comes to culinary uses. It has narrow and green leaves with a pleasing scent, milder than peppermint. The herb is also known as Lamb mint because of its special uses in lamb and potato dishes.

Growing Tips

• Plant it in moist soil under full or part sun.
• As it is invasive by nature, growing it in pots is always a good idea.

2. Pepper Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha × piperita

It is a cross of two mints–Watermint and Spearmint. It has a strong taste, sweet aroma, and cooling, pungent aftertaste, which is why it’s often used in desserts and teas.

Growing Tips

• This plant can easily be multiplied through stem cuttings.
• Always grow it in fertile, well-drained, and moist soil.

3. Apple Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha suaveolens

This species is also known by various names like Wooly or Pineapple Mint. It has light green round foliage and pale pink flowers that appear from early to mid-summer. The fruity aftertaste makes it special. People use it in tea and for garnishing salads.

Growing Tips 

• It’s a cold-hardy plant, growing well under full to part sun.
• Water the plant well to keep the soil slightly moist.

4. Banana Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha arvensis ‘Banana’

This fruity herb has an aroma that resembles a banana, which attracts bees. Its small lilac-colored flowers bloom throughout the summer. You can use it in ice creams, cookies, muffins, and fruit salads.

Growing Tips

• Banana mint grows best in a partly shaded area that remains evenly moist.
• Frequent harvesting and pinching keep it bushier.

5. Chocolate Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha × piperita ‘Chocolate Mint’

Chocolate Mint is famous for its minty chocolate-flavored aroma. It goes well in shakes, desserts, and ice-creams. Its round spear-shaped foliage blooms stunning lavender flowers in summers.

Growing Tips

• Though it can thrive in full sun, save it from the afternoon sun.
• Never allow the soil to dry out completely.

6. Watermint

Botanical Name: Mentha aquatica

Watermint, also known as ‘Mentha citrata,’ grows mostly in waterways, near rivers. It has an oval-looking and toothed, aromatic foliage. This vigorous plant expands through runners.

Growing Tips

• As it thrives near moist places, it requires humidity and moisture for proper growth.
• Since water mint is invasive, grow it in pots.

7. Lavender Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha piperita ‘Lavendula’

One of the most beautiful types of mints that you can grow for ornamental purposes. Plant this 2 feet tall variety in your garden in the form of an informal hedge.

Growing Tips

• Grow the plant on slopes or elevated areas in a garden bed to ensure good drainage.
• For pots, use well-drained soil that retains some moisture.

8. Slender Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha diemenica

This dwarf 6 inches high mint is frost-hardy and native to Australia. Slender mint looks different from other types of mints. It can be used as common mints. Learn more about it here.

Growing tips

• While it prefers several hours of sunlight, you can also grow this wild mint in full shade.
• Various propagation methods like Division and Stolonos can also be used as well.

9. Egyptian Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha niliaca

Egyptian mint is as old as ancient Egypt and has a reference in the Pharaoh’s times as well. This culinary herb has a scent like an applemint, and the flavor is milder than peppermint and spearmint. It has a strong upright stem with fuzzy leaves and finds its uses in savory dishes and teas and is also used as a skin toner too.

Growing Tips

• This tall mint can be up to 2-3 feet high, so grow it in a medium-sized pot.
• You can grow it as an annual in USDA 8 and below. In warmer regions, it’s a perennial.

10. Pennyroyal Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha pulegium

A large number of Roman cookbooks have a mention of Pennyroyal Mint. Today, it is seldom used in kitchens but more as a herbal remedy and to repel insects. Grow it in a vegetable garden to sort out pest problems. It has tiny and delicate green leaves with stunning pale blue or lavender flowers.

Growing tips

• Since it’s a creeper (6-12 inches), you can grow it in hanging pots as well.
• If you’re growing this cold-hardy herb in a warm climate, water it regularly.

11. Horsemint

Botanical Name: Mentha longifolia

This upright herb can be up to 3-4 feet tall, it bears flower spikes of attractive pale pink or lilac color and has hairy foliage. It’s also known as silver mint. It has more medicinal uses, which makes it a perfect addition to a medicinal garden.

Growing tips

• It’s more drought tolerant than other types of mints.
• It can grow well in poor soil and full sun.

12. Corsican Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha requieni

Corsican mint is native to Corsica. It has trails of round, aromatic leaves with small, fragrant flowers. Like most mints, it is low-growing and invasive. Corsican mint helps to enhance the flavor of the vegetable crops growing around it and used in teas and salads. This variety is also an essential ingredient of mint-flavored alcoholic drink crème de menthe.

Growing tips

• It loves the morning sun but dislikes the intense direct sunlight in the afternoon.
• Use soil that’s moist but not soggy.

13. Eau de Cologne Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha piperita citrata

Also known as the orange and bergamot mint, it has citrus-flavored perfumed leaves that are elliptical in shape on beautiful burgundy stems. Orange mint is famous for its aromatic attributes and used as an ingredient in the preparation of Jellies, salads, and Sauces. Its essential oil is used by the perfume industry.

Growing tips

• Because of its invasive nature, it’s better to grow it in raised beds or pots.
• Select a location that receives partial sunlight.

14. Strawberry Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha spicata subsp. citrata ‘Strawberry’

This compact mint variety is suitable for growing indoors in hanging basket and pots. It has a fruity fragrance that is a mix of strawberry and mint. Chop it to add in salads and desserts or make an iced tea.

Growing tips

• Use well-drained loamy soil to grow this mint.
• Keep it in dappled shade.

15. Grapefruit Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha x piperita ‘Grapefruit’

What sets this mint apart from the rest is its intoxicating grapefruit-like fragrance. The fruit-flavored deep green leaves of grapefruit mint go well with fruit desserts. You can also add it to seafood and lamb salad for citrusy zest.

Growing tips

• This upright herb can be up to 2 feet tall, so grow it in a large pot.
• Keep it in a spot that receives at least 4-5 hours of sunlight.

16. Hemingway Peppermint

Botanical Name: Mentha nemorosa

This American variety of wild mint is edible and can be eaten either fresh or cooked into dishes that add a beautiful aroma and pleasant taste. You can also enjoy the mint leaves in the form of herbal teas and other cold beverages.

Growing Tips

• This variety mostly grows as a wild plant without much care.
• Best thrives in rich, moist soil with a pH between 6-7.

17. Ginger Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha x gracilis

Ginger mint is also known as Vietnamese mint because it’s popular in Vietnamese cooking and used to flavor beef and chicken dishes. It smells like spearmint with a hint of fruity ginger-like fragrance, therefore the name.

Growing tips

• Grow it in dappled or full shade in moderately fertile loamy soil.
• Like other types of mints, it grows aggressively, and that’s why it’s better to confine it in a pot before planting on the ground.

18. Mojito Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha × villosa

Also, goes by the common name Cuban mint (Yerba Buena), compared to other varieties, it has a warm and mild flavor. The well-loved and known Mojito cocktail has this mint as its main ingredient!

Growing tips

• Warm temperate and mildly subtropical climates are perfect for this mint.
• It can be grown in USDA Zones 5 to 10a.

19. Hart’s Pennyroyal

Botanical Name: Mentha cervina

Another unique variety from the mint family mainly because of the fragrant leaves and colorful blossoms with a very intense minty flavor that’s similar to spearmint. This is most widely used to season fish, meats, and other culinary uses besides the popular teas and beverages.

Growing Tips

• This plant can grow fine in sandy, loamy, or clay-like soil.
• Prefers semi-shade or full sunlight.

20. American Wild Mint 

Botanical Name: Mentha canadensis

This mint variety native to most of Canada and the United States is one of the most sought-after ones in the North American gardens. It goes well with jellies, teas, candies and has also been used to cure hiccups and toothaches.

Growing Tips

• Grows well in full sunlight to partial shade.
• Best suited for USDA zones 4-10 and needs well-drained soil.

21. Margarita Mint

Botanical Name: Mentha ‘Margarita’

24. Calamint

Botanical Name: Calamintha nepeta

This variety of mint has a very powerful fragrance that is similar to Pennyroyal and tastes somewhat like a cross between marjoram and spearmint. Calamint is not only used for cooking meat dishes and beverages but also is a host of several medicinal benefits.

Growing Tips

• Place calamint in full sunlight.
• This herb can sow by itself prolifically, so you need to get rid of the spent flower heads to stop seedlings.

25. Catnip

Botanical Name: Nepeta cataria

If you’re a cat parent, growing catnip is an excellent idea for your feline’s enjoyment as it contains a compound called nepetalactone, which attracts almost 70-80% of cats. You can also use catnip in mint teas and salads.

Growing tips

• You can grow catnip indoors as well, on a windowsill that receives several hours of direct sun.
• This mint family plant is fairly drought tolerant, once established.

26. Licorice Mint

Botanical Name: Anise hyssop

This variety of mint produces lovely purple flowers. The fresh leaves are mostly used in baked items such as scones, or cookies, and also used in making custards, ice creams, beverages, vinegar, jams, or salad dressings.

Growing Tips

• The plant grows well in full sun. It can also tolerate light shade.
• Provide a balanced organic fertilizer in the spring once every year.

27. Catmint

Botanical Name: Nepeta racemosa

Unlike catnip, catmint is an ornamental herb and can be used in vegetable gardens to deter insects and as an edging plant. Catmint also contains a similar compound, which makes cat euphoric.

Growing tips

• Grow it in the garden in full sun to part sun location.
• When growing catmint in a pot, select a medium to large size container.