Downy Wood Mint
Blephilia ciliata
Whorls of soft lavender-purple flowers in June and July on velvety, mint-scented foliage that deer and rabbits avoid. Handles part shade with ease.
Typically 1 pint–1 gal · $9–$30 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Aug 138 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Aug 148 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Aug 158 AM – 2 PM
A shade-adaptable fragrant native mint with lavender blooms that deer never touch and pollinators find reliably.
Downy wood mint is one of the most charming small native mints -- compact, fragrant, and covered in whorled clusters of soft lavender-purple flowers from June through July. The entire plant is covered in downy hairs that give it a soft, almost velvety appearance, and the foliage carries the characteristic mint fragrance that deer and rabbits reliably avoid. It's a smaller, quieter version of mountain mint that fits into tighter spots in a woodland edge planting. Native to dry open woods and rocky slopes, it handles part shade better than most of the mint family, making it valuable for situations between full sun and full shade where options are limited. A genuinely low-maintenance plant that establishes, blooms, and does its pollinator work without any intervention.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown downy wood mint propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Dry
- Mature size
- 1–2 ft · 12–18 in wide
- Bloom time
- June–July
- Bloom color
- Purple, Lavender
- USDA zones
- 4–8
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Native range
- Eastern and central United States from Vermont south to Georgia and west to Kansas and Nebraska, in dry to mesic open woodlands and rocky slopes
Care notes for downy wood mint.
Full sun to part shade in dry to average, well-drained soil. More shade tolerant than mountain mint. Cut back after flowering for a fresh second flush of fragrant foliage. Self-seeds lightly in favorable conditions. No supplemental water needed once established.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside downy wood mint.
Or skip the guesswork.
Curated packages bundle complementary species for an instant habitat. One reservation, one pickup day, a printed layout map.
Short on Space Package
For gardeners who have an abundance of passion but are short on space, this package features tidy, upright, clump-forming natives that behave and function well in small spaces.
Shade Bed Package
Ferns, sedges, and woodland natives that thrive under existing trees.
Birder’s Paradise Package
For the avid bird watchers and budding ornithologists in our community, the Birder’s Paradise Package consists of species that Hill House Nursery staff and longtime native plant advocates such as Doug Tallamy consider ‘premier bird garden plants’.