Thanks for the ID, Carol. Not only is it a native hummer plant, it's also a bog/pond marginal plant. For me, it doesn't get any better!!

They won't be fresh by the time they get much past your local post office! Your best bet is to take samples along to your nearest botanical gardens (by pre-arrangement). There are literally hundreds of mint species, and many more cultivars. Things become more complicated because mints hybridise easily. It's virtually impossible to identify one of these just by looking at it or smelling it. Chemical analysis is needed - and a professional expertise in biology comes in very handy as well. Still, if you can post photos, some of us here might be able to narrow it down a little bit for you. For instance, peppermint has a dark green colour, more pointy (lanceolate) leaves - and many of its derivatives have those characteristics. Spearmint (and many of its derivatives) is a paler green, the leaves are more rounded. Apple Mint often has a furry leaf, and some varieties are variegated (have at least 2 colours, or shades of colours). There's a variegated Apple Mint known as Pineapple Mint in America. I'll complicate matters for you even further by mentioning that common or local names might include the word 'mint' when the plant the name refers to isn't a mint at all! (A true mint will have the name Mentha Something.) Three examples of this are Asian (Vietnamese) Mint http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persicaria_odorata and Mexican Marigold Mint (Tagetes lucida) - which I know as Winter Tarragon, but it has numerous other names as well, depending on where you come from - and it's neither a tarragon nor a mint!! and Horsemint, which is a member of the mint family in England (Mentha longifolia); but in America, it's any member of the Monarda (bergamot) family! Check out the images at this URL, and browse through the websites they came from. http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&q=mint+species&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Rn2QS6vYAZCTkAX93oGODQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQsAQwAw Here is a link that might be useful: types of mint

I've always thought that what Americans call Pineapple Mint is really variegated apple mint. Certainly, the variegated apple mint smells and tastes very much like a cross between an apple and a pineapple (more apple than pineapple!) - at least in my part of the world. Did you crush the leaves before smelling/tasting? Keep in mind that there are at least 600 different types of mint, so there is great opportunity for false labelling! When buying mints, be guided by your nose and your taste-buds.

Ack.....oh no....not that indoor plant that becomes a serious invasive. Is that a prayer vine? Does it have roots every 6 inches? Get rid of it as soon as possible. In the trash...not the yard debris bin. Now, I'm not sure, but it looks like the same plant that 6 volunteers spent an entire morning trying to eradicate from a local nature park. Someone in a nearby apartment complex threw the plant over the fence into the park. It spread some 300 sq ft. We had to hand pull all of it, try to save the native plants, and then nail down landscape fabric. It is absolutely essential to avoid having invasives take over the local parks. I live in the Pacific NW. Our summers are very dry. I would hate to see how fast that plant could take over an area in Maryland. It would spread easily with the mild weather. Bottom line - mint leaves smell like mint.