The calamints are the mint family at its most understated and most useful. Low, aromatic subshrubs of Southern sandhills and pinelands, the Clinopodium carry small, highly scented leaves and clouds of little flowers late in the year, when the border is tiring and the pollinators are hungry. Clinopodium georgianum, the Georgia calamint, hazes over in pinkish lavender through fall; Clinopodium coccineum, the scarlet calamint, hangs out narrow red trumpets the hummingbirds find without fail.

Gardeners of a certain vintage will know these plants as Calamintha or Satureja, and the labels have changed more than once, but the virtues have not. The whole group is deer-resistant, drought-tolerant once settled, and aromatic enough to earn a place by a path, where a passing hand or ankle will release the scent.