Fragrant Carpet Hummingbird Mint Mix Seeds

Hummingbird mint has erupted into a rainbow of brilliant colors. This mix of compact, very evenly sized plants in 5 luscious shades is guaranteed to please the nose as well as the eye, with aromatic foliage and tube-shaped blooms just right for a hummingbird's long, slender beak. Flowering heavily even the first year from seed, Fragrant Carpet Mix is a boon to any sunny garden or patio container.

In this mix you get pastel tones of pink, rose, lilac, tangerine, and lemon, complementing one another nicely and adding soft color to any setting. The foliage is attractive too, releasing its heady mint scent as the weather warms and calling bees and butterflies to visit as well as hummingbirds. Jut 12 to 18 inches high and up to a foot wide, this hyssop is compact enough for containers, but makes a big impression wherever it is planted.

Tolerant of heat, humidity, drought, and poor soil, Fragrant Carpet Mix is a great choice for carefree garden spots such as meadow areas, slopes, the edge of the driveway, and sidewalk plantings. It makes a cheery companion to vegetables, its scented leaves repelling some destructive pests from eating your crops. The blooms begin in midsummer in most climates and continue through mid-fall, and it's hard to miss them when they're gone, with that aromatic foliage perfuming the air.

This hummingbird mint flowers the first year from seed, so it can be grown as an annual anywhere. To sow, place the seeds on top of the Bio-sponge in your Bio-Dome or on the seed-starting medium in seed flats or pots. They need light to germinate, and should sprout within a month at temperatures of 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Transplant them when they have at least 2 sets of full leaves, spacing the seedlings about 9 inches apart in the garden, somewhat closer in containers. Sunshine and heat do wonders for their growth.

Fragrant Carpet Mix is the ideal patio plant too, its combination of minty scent and long-lasting blooms adding a freshness to the setting. Try a pot or two this season, or combine in tubs and window boxes with unscented annuals. You'll love the effect.