If you ’re looking for a perennial that is long blossom , heat kind , resistant to pestis and disease , and easy to grow , then allow me to recommend Nepeta cataria ( orNepeta ) to you . After years of experimenting with drouth - liberal and cervid - resistive planting , I still include this top performer on my list of “ must have ” plant . It plays a outstanding function in my cosmetic garden and provides involvement in all four season . It has attractive gray - green foliage that emerges in neat , sizable mound in April . By May , the industrial plant fairly explodes with a profuse daze of mild lavender - blue flowers . After the initial flush of bloom , the plant life continues to show draw of color well into late summer or early fall . Colorful calyces that are standardized in colour to the blossoms enhance the floral presentation even after the bloom are function . Left standing over the wintertime months , the foliage fades to a pleasing soft silver gray color .
This herbaceous perennial is a member of the mint family ( Lamiaceae),which include lavender , rosemary , thyme , bee balm and gargantuan hyssop . In addition to having redolent leaves , these plant life share other common traits , such as two - lipped efflorescence , square base and opposite leaf . Many people befuddle Nepeta cataria with catnip(Nepeta cataria ) . While the two are closely touch on , catnip is more aromatic than catnip but has less ornamental value .
catnip represent well with others . If you bang the classic combining of lavender and roses but find lavender too picky to grow in this area , catmint is a near substitute . Just like lavender , catmint can be used to cover the bare “ limbs ” of roseate bushes . It ’s cool - tone foliage and flower offer a pleasing counterpoint to the vivid spirit of the roses .
Catmint fuse well with most other colors but looks particularly likable when twin with colors in the red - blue color spectrum . In my own garden , it looks stunning planted with irises . In peculiar , it pairs well with the medium lavender - blue fleur-de-lis ‘ Crater Lake ’ and with the blue - violet hues of iris ‘ Swingtown . ’ The mounded configuration contrast nicely with the perpendicular silhouettes and deeper lavender fill in ofAlliumcultivars ‘ Gladiator , ’ ‘ Giganteum , ’ or ‘ Purple Sensation . ’ As bounce merges into summer , catmint harmonizes well with the cascade Burgundy wine leafage of ‘ Garnet ’ Japanese Maple or with the purple leaf ofHeuchera‘Plum Pudding . ’ ‘ Purple Ruffles ’ St. Basil the Great is yet another terrifying fellow traveller for catmint , plus it ’s edible ! Yellow - bloom industrial plant such asHemerocallis‘Happy Returns,’Achillea‘Coronation Gold , ’ orCoreopsis‘Early Sunrise ’ also make a pleasing compounding with catmint .
The most democratic catmint cultivar grow commercially in this rural area belong to the hybridNepeta x faassenii . The plant life are named for J. H. Faassen , a Dutch gardener , in whose nursery this hybrid first appeared . The blossom ofN. x Faasseniiare sterile and do not need to be deadheaded to prevent self - sowing .
Whereas members of theN. X faasseniifamily are sterile , other related to specie , such as the pursual , are fertile and may call for to be deadheaded to prevent reseeding :
In a comparative study of catmints lead by the Chicago Botanic Garden between 1999 and 2006 , 36 catmints were evaluated with the goal of identifying great specimens in terminal figure of their ornamental traits , disease and pesterer underground , cultural adaptability , and winter hardiness ( the botanical garden is locate in zone 5b ) . Of 22 catnip that were highly blackleg , the follow four top performers get five - star splendid rating based on their heavy flower production over a protract bloom period :
If you ’re compelled to look for Nepeta cataria in the local garden centers , do n’t limit yourself to just these four selections . Many other excellent cultivars are useable , such as ‘ Dropmore , ’ ‘ Blue Wonder , ’ and ‘ Junior Walker , ’ which , at 16 inch marvelous , is a myopic version of ‘ Walker ’s Low . ’
HOW TO CARE FOR CATMINT
HOW TO PROPAGATE CATMINT
PESTS , POLLINATORS , AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
RESOURCES
Armitage , Allan M. , “ Herbaceous Perennial Plants , ” Third Edition , 2008 .
Clausen , Ruth Rogers , “ 50 Beautiful Deer - Resistant Plants – The Prettiest Annuals , Perennials , Bulbs , and Shrubs that Deer Do n’t deplete , ” 2011 .
“ A - izzard Encyclopedia of Garden Plants , ” publish by The American Horticultural Society , editor program - in - top dog Christopher Brickell and H. Marc Cathey , 2004 .
“ A relative Study of Cultivated Catmints , ” Richard G. Hawke , Plant Evaluation Manager , Chicago Botanic Garden , https://www.chicagobotanic.org/downloads/planteval_notes/no29_catmint.pdf .
