Is mint a problem in NW gardens?

I planted some chocolate mint in a bed a while ago. Then I read about it's very invasive. Is that a problem in Vancouver area, with the rain in winter? Does different location matter...shade or sun? Does it have to be in a pot? Thanks.

 

On suitably moist sites they all creep underground to form patches unless contained.

 

yes, mint in general is a nuisance and it spreads in coastal Vancouver BC
I happen to like the mint I have - nice flavor, pretty color, easy care (i use it for cooking)

however - I have it in a large pot that I then buried half-way in the ground to make it easy care (ie not another pot to water etc).

EDIT to clarify - I should be more clear about this - I know that the large nursery pots have drain holes in them (a good thing) - and I have not yet (over 5 yrs approx) had any trouble with mint roots finding those holes and sending up new shoots OUTSIDE the pot walls. i have my mint pot in a shady most of the day location - and I trim it back often to get nice new fresh leaves ---- don't let it flower. give it some safe food (read the label about how many days before safe to harvest) and water often if you are using it for your kitchen.

make sure it is a sturdy commercial nursery pot (the black ones) - and that you leave at least a few inches above ground - otherwise over time the leaf mulch (natural leaf fall) - and any mulch you add - will build up and mint stems will bend over and latch in to the big wide yonder of your garden

to give you an idea - my little patch (that came with adopted garden) - it grows in to the cracks in asphalt paved surrounding driveway

... this is advice from someone who has just been out in the hot sun for last 2 hours pulling "fireweed" (a lovely and pretty native that bees and hummers like - but crazy invasive - it came with our very expensive soil which we had to buy for several thousand dollars when we had to put in new septic at our coast cottage - ouch!)

also - pls read your local "green waste" regulations on putting invasives like mint stems in to your compost / green waste. Otherwise, off to the dump. Mint roots very easily from the stems (layering)

 

Thanks guys. The first pic is the chocolate mint I planted maybe a month and a half ago, it might have grown 50% bigger. If you look closely there is a weed to the right of it. The second is one, pepper mint perhaps, I got from a friend. There is a thrown away love plant coming out right next to it. The third is what my lawn typically looks like. It can't be worse than that, 8?

I'm hoping to keep an eye on them and pull them out on the first sign of going out of control. Does that make sense?

 

Pots would be a LOT better. Or a dedicated area just for mint. Or a lovely scented yard, which might not be so bad. The thing is, because it spreads by underground stolons you won't really see it making a break for the great wide world. With mine, I need to knock it out of the pot every fall and give it a good root-prune/divide it so it doesn't become a dead centre and mint all around the edges the next year. But it has been well-behaved (oh dear, now I've jinxed it) in a 10" terra cotta pot. The roots do go out the bottom, but it seems to be too deep for the stolons to follow.
keke