Not to be confused with closely related catnip, catmint is a resilient perennial for sunny and warm spots. Nepeta faassenii had always been the more familiar catmint. Modern varieties include a few other specie and hybrids. The various catmints work like the various lavenders or trailing rosemary, without getting so shrubby.
Unless they lean on something or climb through shrubbery, stems do not often get any higher than a foot as they spread to two or three feet wide. A few stems around the edges can grow roots through winter, to spread more the following year. New plants are easy to propagate by division of some of the rooted stems before spring.
The diagonal flower spikes that bloom most profusely as weather warms in spring are the color of faded blue denim. Some catmints bloom white or pink. The finely textured foliage is grayish green, although some varieties of catmint have chartreuse or greener foliage. Spent bloom can get shorn off to keep new foliage neat.
Interesting. I’ve never heard of this one, but there are those square stems that help me identify members of the mint family.
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It became more popular here over the past many years or so, probably because it does well in the chaparral climate.
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I always thought catmint was another name for catnip. Now I know better, though both are nepeta.
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Catmint might be another common name for catnip. I really do not know. Catnip is rare here.
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Regardless, it can make a cat loopy.
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Cats are silly anyway.
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That’s right. Being loopy improves them.
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My Nepeta (I have ‘Walker’s Low’) has a hard time getting any size because my cat loves to lie and roll around in it!
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They must not know that it is decaffeinated. I grew catnip in another garden where there were not domestic cats, but the bobcats found it.
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One of my favorites, I’ve got a lot of this one. Great plant for a hot, sunny spot – and the bees love it.
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Yes, it hums when the bees get going.
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