Plant Library

Other Names:  Calamint

Description:

Lovely creamy-white flowers emerge with yellow centers throughout summer; light green leaves are round, shiny, and fragrant; an excellent choice for borders and containers, tolerates moist soils

Ornamental Features

White Calamint features delicate creamy white star-shaped flowers with yellow eyes at the ends of the stems from early summer to early fall. Its attractive fragrant round leaves remain light green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

White Calamint is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Self-Seeding

White Calamint is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Herb Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

White Calamint will grow to be about 9 inches tall at maturity extending to 12 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 12 inches. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

White Calamint is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.