Korean Mint’s beautiful lavender flowers and dark green leaves make a sweet anise/licorice flavoured tea. Or put some young leaves in a salad. This lovely plant has antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial effects and is an important herb in Chinese Traditional Medicine. Yeo and colleagues (2023) summarize Korean Mint’s properties in a paper published in the journal, Plants:
Agastache rugosa, known as the Korean mint, belongs to the Lamiaceae family found in East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan). It is a traditional medicinal and ornamental plant. A. rugosa can be used for physiological and pharmacological treatments, including antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, and antiviral activities. Furthermore, Park et al. reported that different tissues (flower, stem, and leaf) contained phenolic compounds (catechin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, rutin, and kaempferol), and that methanolic extracts of the different plant tissues displayed antibacterial activity. Desta et al. described the antioxidant activities of extracts of flower, root, stem, and leaf tissues of A. rugosa, which were rich in phenolic compounds.
Korean Mint was one of those surprise hits. We aren’t fans of licorice flavoured candy, but this plant has a more complex taste that isn’t comparable to, say, Twizzlers. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. Nevermind that it looks stunning in the garden, which is reason enough to grow it.
How to Plant: Ease of Germination: Easy. Direct sow in spring or start indoors 4-6 weeks before last frost. If you don’t want Korean Mint to be a perennial, just plant it in a pot for the summer.
Location: Sun, Partial Sun
Life cycle: Perennial (Zone 4 and up) or Grow as an Annual
Usable Parts: Flowers, Leaves (dried, fresh)
Uses: Tea, Tincture
Height: 24 to 36 inches
