Mint Peppermint

The mint to grow if you want tea. Where spearmint is the one for new potatoes, peppermint carries a high menthol content and that distinct icy candy-cane character that clears the head.

It is a handsome plant in its own right — dark green leaves flushed purple on reddish stems, topped with lilac flower spikes in late summer that hoverflies and small solitary bees work hard.

Keep it in a container. Mint runners are unstoppable and will smother whatever is next to them within a season. Shear the whole plant back hard after the first flush and it will give you tender new growth for the rest of the summer.