Mint plants are easy to grow, fragrant, and come in several tempting varieties. But is mint a perennial or do you have to buy new plants after the winter? While most types of mint are botanically perennial plants, meaning they can grow back in spring, whether or not you’ll need to buy new plants depends on your growing zone and the care you gave your plants. Here’s what to know about mints and their care so you can keep them around for many years to come.

Is Mint Perennial or Annual?

Nearly all members of the Mentha genus are perennials, and any commonly grown mint found at a garden center or online is likely a perennial. These plants are cold-hardy, with most varieties suitable for USDA Hardiness Zones 3-9 or even warmer. Many will survive Zone 2 winters, especially with snow cover or mulch. 

Mints are herbaceous perennials, not evergreens. In autumn, their foliage dies back. While they usually stay green for the first light frost, eventually, they succumb. Don’t worry. They’ll be back in spring when the soil temperatures warm up.

Walk through the garden center, and you’ll see spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, apple mint, varieties named for cocktails, pineapple mint, and more. Many are varieties of Mentha spicata, the spearmint. Most plants sold as peppermint are hybrids between spearmint and watermint and are labeled as Mentha x piperita. They’re all perennial, vigorous, and quite cold-hardy. 

Benefits of Growing Mint as a Perennial

Mint is often grown as an annual. It’s inexpensive to buy a couple of new plants in spring, but growing mint as a perennial lets you take advantage of a larger mint patch, earlier harvest, and late-summer pollinator benefits.

Plentiful supply. Mint has earned its reputation as a spreader, but that doesn’t have to be bad. When growing mint as a perennial, use that trait to your advantage. Mint spreads by rhizomes, and a garden bed with deep edging will prevent most escapees. It’s also easy to pluck a far-ranging mint plant and repot it, use it in the kitchen, or compost it.

A tough groundcover. The hardy perennial nature of mint, its enthusiasm for spreading, tolerance of less-than-perfect conditions, willingness to grow in partial shade, and deer resistance make mint an appealing choice as a groundcover. Consider it for covering difficult-to-garden hillsides, allowing it to spread out under trees, or even to make a large pollinator patch.

Supports pollinators. While a seemingly endless supply of mint is a good reason to grow this herb as a perennial, one of the best reasons is to feed the bees. Once you’ve harvested enough mint, or if it gets away from you, the plants will flower. The flowers are small, whitish, and don’t appear very flowery, but a large patch of mint will be covered in bees. 

Filler for flower arrangements. Mint stems are sturdy and tall, and with the excess mint plants you’re likely to have, it’s great to snip a few to include in your garden-harvested bouquets. Mint works well as greenery in a flower vase, and its long, sturdy stems make it versatile, whether used as a tall piece or for tucking in around the base. It holds up in a vase well, likely longer than the flowers next to it.

Tips for Growing Mint as a Perennial

Mint’s tendency to spread is why many gardeners don’t grow it. While plants in the mint family are famous for popping up in unwanted places, controlling the spread isn’t as hard as it is made out to be.

When grown in the ground, mint expands. The initial patch will grow larger quickly as the plants send out rhizomes like cavalry scouts, popping up new mint plants several feet or even several yards away. To limit the spread, take preemptive action by planting the mint in a large pot and then planting the container in the ground, setting bed edging around the plant, or keeping it in line with a garden spade.

A too-large mint plant can be easily divided by a shovel. If you want more mint, replant the root section you removed. If you don’t, let it dry in the sun for a week or two to kill it, and then toss it in the compost. 

Wayward rhizomes that pop up as new plants can be hoed or chopped. Mint rarely spreads successfully against lawn grass, so planting it in a spot surrounded by turf is effective in limiting the spread. What gets through the grass won’t get far against your lawnmower.

Overwintering Mint

Mint plants, whether spearmint or peppermint, are cold-hardy and resilient. They’ll die back as winter approaches, but a healthy mint plant will reappear in spring. A few cultivars are less cold-hardy and benefit from a thick layer of mulch before the ground freezes in fall. Remove the soggy mulch in springtime to avoid problems with root rot or crown rot. 

Divide the mint plants in spring when new shoots pop up. Regular division keeps the plants vigorous and allows you to plant them in another spot if desired.

Mint grown in a container can overwinter in the house with enough light and care. While mint is hardy in cold areas, a plant’s roots in above-ground containers can experience more cold than those in the ground and be damaged.

If you bring a potted mint plant indoors for the winter, first give it a haircut and repot it (it probably needs it). Then, provide plenty of light and water only when the top inch of soil feels dry. When spring weather returns, set the mint out again, dividing it if you wish, and resume normal fertilizer application rates.