Canada Mint, also known as American Wild Mint or Cornmint (Mentha canadensis), is a circumboreal species of wild mint that can be found in various regions throughout North America and Asia. It occurs in various damp habitats such as wet meadows, stream banks, marshes, and moist woodlands. The plant features aromatic foliage with a refreshing minty scent, making it desirable as a culinary or medicinal herb and for use in sensory gardens. In fact, cultivars have been shown to contain higher concentrations of menthol than any other species of mint.
 
Canada Mint blooms from late spring to mid-summer, with its peak bloom occurring from June to July. During this time, the fragrant flower clusters provide an extremely attractive source of pollen and nectar for various pollinators, including many native bees, butterflies, and occasionally hummingbirds. Additionally, the aromatic foliage of American Wild Mint acts as a natural repellent for certain pests, such as mosquitoes, aphids, and even some mammals, making it a valuable plant for homemade pest control recipes.
 
Interestingly, Canada Mint and other mints act as a sort of host plant for the Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus), an imposingly large but very docile and incredibly beautiful, beneficial wasp that both predates garden pests and pollinates flowers by nectar foraging. Colonies of solitary Sphex wasps will nest at the base of plants if soils are amenable to digging. Although they may look quite scary, these wasps are truly gentle giants, cause no structural damage, and are a garden pest control themselves, so please coexist peacefully if they appear in your garden! Here at the farm, our mint patch is the hub for as many as 100 wasps at the height of summer, and it is a seasonal joy to work in the middle of so many beautiful creatures while they gracefully work around you.
 
While its aggressive rhizomes make it ideal for remediation projects, they also make it quite invasive in well-watered gardens, and it may be ideal to grow as a potted plant. Plants can tolerate a wide range of soils, but seedlings need to be protected from full sun until established in all but the wettest conditions. Germination is carefree, and seeds can be surface sown onto prepared soil from spring through fall. Soils must be kept evenly moist until rhizomes have matured, after which plants can tolerate some seasonal dryness.