# Any thoughts about Alpine Mint and Blue Star Creeper?



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

While checking out the stock at our local nursery I came across a couple of plants that look like they would scale down very nicely for one's garden railroad. So what do we think of Alpine Mint and Blue Star Creeper?


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Whoa! Checked those babies out on the web and learned that both are flowering plants, which is mostly a deal breaker to me as the blossoms are out of scale. But with the flowers, the leaves look pretty good. Whatcha think? BTW, I live in coastal Southern California.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Carl Tobin down in Brookings put in some Blue Star Creeper and it about took over everything. To qualify, his landscape was 100% top soil and was kept well watered. The Creeper went along, over and through every hill & mound on his layout and it took him a year of intensive work to get rid of it. I would assume that different conditions might mitigate its exuberant growth somewhat but unless you like it well enough to potentially have it everywhere be forewarned. 

On the positive side though it's really a nice looking plant and the small flowers are quite nice and small enough not to overpower everything in and of themselves. I don't know about the Alpine Mint but I don't believe it'd be as invasive as the Blue Star Creeper.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Hmm, guess that won't work at all, Richard. Actually, until we figure out a solution, at this time anything we plant in our garden is promptly torn up by a racoon, who's looking foir grubs. His destructiveness has driven my wife, the flower planter, to tears. And put us on a first name basis with all the sales clerks at Home Depot.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

I'll second the comments about the spread of Blue Star Creeper. My mom planted it in a small 8'x 8' area surrounding a small fountain, and it has covered the area quite well except in a tiny spot that get splashed by the fountain and the birds. My mom intentionally planted it as a ground cover and hopes that it will continue to spread. My warning of massive growth was not heeded but rather incouraged her to buy the plant! Nothing seems to kill it, although I have noticed that in certain areas it spreads slower. It makes an excelent ground cover if you don't like bark (such as my mom!). Oh my moms soil is a couple of inches of good garden dirt followed by rock hard clay. 
Craig


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

I know that everyone says this stuff spreads like a weed and once in is in for good (or bad), but not on my railroad where it mostly died out over thyme.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Well Todd, I guess you didn't mint(s) your words.


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

According to gardening.about.com it looks like the Blue Star Creeper is almost as rugged as a grass and could be used as a substitute for a lawn as well. Anyone has experience with that? It sounds (and looks!) very tempting.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

There's a pretty good piece of it in the Botanic train garden. Quite pretty. Yes, it does spread. Some call it invasive.


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## thumper (Jan 31, 2009)

Beware of any variety of mint. Almost all varieties of mint spread quickly and are very difficult to kill off. 

Several years ago, we thought it would be fun to plant 5 or 6 mint varieties with the thought that they would all would fit from a scale standpoint while giving a pleasant scent off when we were working in the garden. Well, that was a big mistake. No matter the variety, each had a mind of its own as to how much of our garden should be taken over. We were finally successful when we covered all areas formerly occupied by the mint with a thick layer coco bean mulch. When hosed down, the coco bean mulch smothered everything that had not yet sprouted. Better yet, our garden smelled as if we were baking chocolate chip cookies in the garden.

As for the coco bean mulch, here are the pros/cons: 

PRO - looks good, is an effective deterrent to weeds in the garden, smells good, is cheap [$4.00 per 2.5 cu. ft bag], is very easy to spread, scale is good and it decomposes quickly. 

CON - slippery when wet, sticks to shoes when wet, tends to be blown around with strong winds and can be poisonous to dogs [I don't know about other animals, but I do know you should not feed any form of chocolate to canines].

Today, we avoid mint like the plague. It's good only in someone else's garden.

As for the coco bean mulch, we use 12-15 bags per season in our gardens and around all of our trees.

Here's a photo with the mulch. Sorry about the orientation. It rotated on downloading and I couldn't get it to go back.

Will











Hi Will, I have reduced it to the max width of 800 pixels, it was 1024, and that MAY have been why it rotated? From Peter Bunce - moderator.


I agree woth you about Mint ,if it is invited in gets everywhere!


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