I was both surprised and delighted when I learned that Short-Tooth Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) won the Perennial Plant Association’s Perennial Plant of the Year for 2025. We had grown this under-used native gem for years at the Nursery, and it is still one of our favorite filler plants to use at Paddle Creek Gardens.
Short-Tooth Mountain Mint is a vigorous, interesting-looking native perennial. All parts of the plant smell strongly of camphor and peppermint, a feature that prevents deer and rabbits from eating the plants. Dusty-colored plants give way to white flowers backed by bracts that look as if they have been painted, the color reminiscent of the old-fashioned garden annual Dusty Miller.
Ranging from New England south to the Southern Appalachians, Coastal Plain and Ozarks, Short-Tooth Mountain Mint is typically found in sunny openings, especially where the forest has been cleared or the soil is shallow and thin. While it can take infertile soils, it does require even moisture, suffering under severe drought conditions.
Mountain Mint Ecological Function and Landscape Uses
Ecological Function: Keystone
While I can’t find any scientific research to back up my choice of Keystone for the ecological function of Pycnanthemum muticum, it attracts an incredible variety of pollinators in our gardens – I see all shapes and sizes of wasps, bees and hoverflies on the clumps in our garden.
Pycnanthemum muticum doesn’t really support many caterpillars from what I could find, and I don’t usually see any on the clumps in our gardens, but for the amount of pollinators it supports I think it warrants the Keystone label.
Landscape Function: Filler
Quick-spreading, easy to propagate and vigorously growing, Pycnanthemum muticum is the ultimate filler plant in a naturalistic landscape. It runs strongly, but the small rhizomes are easy to cut back if need be. The plants fill in quickly, stabilizing soil and preventing weeds from growing.
Pycnanthemum muticum blooms in mid-Summer, but the powdery gray bracts remain clear through until November in our area. Mint family plants can sometimes be susceptible to powdery mildew but we’ve never had any problems with it on Pycnanthemum muticum.
Cultivation: How to Grow Short-Tooth Mountain Mint
Pycnanthemum muticum is easily grown in average to moist garden soils in full sun to part shade. The main requirement is a soil that doesn’t dry severely in the summer. Pycnanthemum muticum is a PH generalist, able to take moderately acidic to moderately alkaline soils.
Plant individual plants 18 to 24 inches apart in drifts of 7 or more for best effect; the plants combine with vertical accents such as Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and ‘Fireworks’ Rough-Stem Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’), both of which are well-balanced in vigor against Pycnanthemum muticum.
Pycnanthemum muticum photo gallery
Pycnanthemum muticum attributes
| Common Name: | Short-Tooth Mountain Mint |
| Botanical Name: | Pycnanthemum muticum |
| USDA Hardiness Zones: | 4-8 |
| Height: | 18-36 in. |
| Spread: | 18-36 in. |
| Spacing: | 24 in. |
| Growth Rate: | Vigorous |
| Flower Color: | Greenish-White with Gray Bracts |
| Bloom Season: | Mid to Late Summer |
| Foliar Texture: | Medium |
| Habit: | Spreading |
| Light Exposure: | Full Sun to Part Shade |
| Soil Moisture: | Moist to Average |
| Soil Texture: | Clay Loam to Sandy Loam |
| Soil PH: | Neutral to Slightly Acidic |
| Landscape Role: | Filler |
| Ecological Function: | Keystone (Pollinators) |
| Other Benefits: | Clay Tolerant, Heat Tolerant, Deer Resistant, Rabbit Resistant |