Re: Spider Mites on Mints ?

Doobieous wrote:
I don't know of any mints that grow in full sun -
especially in California!
(There is a field mint: Mentha arvensis (?) which
grows in dry, mixed grass
pasture, but IIRC it hasn't much odor.) 

We had spearmint growing in full sun here in Marina
(just north of Monterey). It got everywhere.
Fortunately, we keep the front garden on the dry side
so it never became a pest, it just popped up in
different places here and there. It's mostly died off
since it never gets lots of water. Of course, our
climate is cool year round and in summer we get lots
of fog.

The native "mint" is Yerba Buena, (Satureja
douglasii), which grows out in the chapparal under
bushes. It's rather dainty and small and has a light
mint scent. I'm sure though it probably prefers
moister conditions. I think the Japanese use it for
flavoring, rather than true mint.
The main thing about mints I think is that while they are plants with a high moisture requirement they don't really have the type of foliage to protect them against drying up. This is the reason they can only take full sun in areas which are not to hot generally and/or also have high atmospheric humidity, and cannot survive much dry heat. In a a climate like your local one with gentle sun and year-round humidity from fogs they are quite happy in the open, but in the drier Chapparel the native mint prefers the shade of bushes.

In Africa I remember out in the open savannah the shade of bushes was likewise a very popular microclimate for delicate plants and provided many a treasure for the botanist.

In my NZ garden, an area with cool summers, mint will grow successfully in the open, but is noticeably more lush where it can find a bit of shade (deep shade though does not suit it either and it simply dies out if it does not get sun for part of the day). I do not confine mine but let it ramble round in a shrubbery. I find it gradually moves around with the best plants always at the forefront of the migration, while it dies of behind, so it is almost never too obtrusive.(one can always root out the odd plant which transgrsses the rules anyway.)

Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES AND DIAGRAMS ADDED 20/Feb/2005

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