Milky Way Japanese Shrub Mint. I found this cultivar of Japanese Shrub Mint in the fall of 2013 in one of the small collector nurseries in the Gifu Prefecture in south central Japan. It has heavily white splashed foliage which will appear in different patterns on its leaves. This species will usually get to about 30" plus and grows ideally in a high organic soil with uniform moisture. In the fall it will put up multiple branched spikes of soft pink flowers similar to the species and the cultivar 'October Moon'. I have never before seen this cultivar in the U. S. At the time I found this selection, I was not given a cultivar name, so I took it upon myself to christen it 'Amanogawa', meaning "Milky Way" galaxy. This cultivar name is often given to heavily variegated plants in Japan, as with our Ardisia japonica 'Amanogawa'.
Zones 6-9
