Just Curious

[Old_Geezer]

When I was a kid my parents had mint growing in our back garden. Used to be regularly used each weekend for the mint sauce to go with the lamb. As I recall it was a short plant, dark ragged leaves.

Then when I first got a place of my own I bought some mint, but it was a taller plant, much lighter in colour, and IIRC smoother unragged leaves. Unfortunately by that time the family had removed all trace of mint from the garden.

So. I take it that the one I'd bought must have been a different variety (or whatever) of the mint family. It just didn't look the same thing. But despite the occasional web search I've yet to find the plant I knew from the back garden. Does the short, dark, ragged description ring any bells with anyone ? I think I'd like to grow some for nostalgia as much as use in the kitchen.

Cheers.

[Buenchico]

There are 1086 recognised varieties of the genus Mentha, so that's an awful lot of different mints!

However you might have had apple mint (Mentha rotundifolia, or perhaps something akin to it) growing in your childhood garden
http://plantartistrynj.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AppleMint2011a.jpg
and you possibly purchased something like English Lamb Mint (Mentha spicata), which is also called spearmint, later on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearmint#/media/File:Minze.jpg

The most common types of mint are illustrated in the slide show. So perhaps clicking through them all will help to solve your mystery?
http://herbs.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:Types_of_Mint

[Baldric]

The Mint we grew when I was a Kid sounds very similar to the one you remember.

[237SJ]

I know the type you mean. When my Mum first moved to Devon she planted some mint. Unfortunately, she planted it on the shady side of a fence and it disappeared from our garden but went under the fence to next door`s garden where it flourished. When Mum wanted some mint, she waited until the woman next door went out and lifted me over the fence to pick it. She used to say "Its my mint anyway". It was dark green, slightly hairy with quite tough leaves. It also had a much stronger smell.

[Kathyan]

I remember the type you mention. We had a mint patch in our back garden. Neighbours would come round for some on a Sunday when they were having lamb. We also had a rhubarb patch and raspberries and gooseberries!

[pastafreak]

Back home in the States,we also had mint. I remember it as being quite dense with woody stems...and dark. Very aromatic. I'm guessing age of the plants will affect appearance.

[Clanad]

Pasta's surmising is accurate... as far as the older the plant being lighter in color. Ours is about 1 to 2 feet high and dies back during the winter only to refurmish itself in the spring. But, additionally, it sends out new shoots, sometimes as far away from the main plant as a foot or so. Those shoots are entirely different looking than the main. If we didn't keep it cut back it could be aggravatingly invasive...

[Old_Geezer]

That'll teach me to look back faster :-)

A lot in Chris' links look similar. Some might be it although I seem to recall (as best my memory can) even darker and indeed, 237SJ's reference to hairy seems to ring a bell. Or perhaps slightly furry might be a better description.

Well we seem to have narrowed it down to just 1086 possibilities then :-D

Thanks.