Mint Juleps and Ice Tea

Every self respecting Southern household has a patch of mint multiplying throughout their garden beds. And although all the labels and various growers recommend growing in pots because of its tendency to spread, I have never seen mint in a pot. Every Southerner I know just lets it run rampant. But for the past several years I have been unsuccessful in growing any decent mint. Every spring, several peat pots of mint are mixed in with my purchases from the local nursery (my first mistake). Although, these pots of mint literally seem like mere shadows and shades of the mint of my childhood, I dutifully and hopefully set them out in the garden. The leaves are small, thin, and wispy where my remembered mint was thick, large-leaved and sturdy, able to withstand---even thrive in, the hardships of a Georgia summer.

This year will be different. I have learned the mint luxuriating in my memories is Kentucky Colonel. It can be bought at some nurseries, but really is best gotten from a friend. A few weeks ago, I heard of one (a friend) who had Kentucky Colonel growing in her garden and so, when invited to a luncheon in her home I quickly accepted. As I arrived, I spied a bunch in a vase alongside the buffet. Afterward when leaving, I quickly snatched the leaves and rushed home to put the stems in water to root. Two weeks later I'm almost ready to plant...

Kentucky Colonel is as I remembered---very sturdy with thick leaves and beautifully...minty. It is a spearmint (versus a peppermint) bearing the name Mentha spicata 'Kentucky Colonel'.