PerennialsDiscover the right perennial plants for your garden.
2025 Landscape Perennial of the Year : ‘ Cat ’s Meow ’ catmint ( Nepeta ×faassenii ) . Photo by Proven Winners .
If you ’re appear for a tough - as - nails flora that will blossom for months on destruction with very little pampering , Nepeta cataria is sure to make you purr with delight . Unlike its close comparative catmint ( both are member of the mint crime syndicate ) , catmint is good behaved and much showier . The soft gray-haired - greenish foliage and billowy clump of lavender - depressed flowers are like a cool pushover on a red-hot day .
With variations in both flower and leaf semblance , tallness , bloom time and growing weather , these multipurpose plants can be used in almost any area of the garden .
grease one’s palms online : Catmint plants
On this page : Basics|Varieties of Catmint|Planting Catmint|Care and Maintenance|Pictures|Landscaping with Catmint
BASICS
Plant type:
Herbaceous perennial
Hardiness:
Varies by species . Most are frigid hardy to zone 3 .
Height:
9 inches to 3 substructure
Flower color:
Various shades of lavender - blue , pink , reddish blue , or snowy , often enhanced by coloured calyx .
Foliage:
foggy , aromatic grey-headed - green to intermediate immature leaves with scollop edges .
Light preference:
Full sun to light shade .
Bloom time:
Typically , late bound to early summertime into early downslope , although some varieties flower sooner and longer .
Special attributes:
2025 Landscape Perennial of the Year:
' Cat ’s Meow ' catmint .
CATMINT VARIETIES
Is catmint the same as catnip?
HOW TO PLANT CATMINT
Where to plant:
Although most choose full sun , they wo n’t take care a number of good afternoon tone , specially when grown in live climates . Catmint will arise in just about any type of well - drained ground . Wet or soggy site can moderate to root rot .
When to plant:
From spring ( after the last menace of frost has passed ) through early fall .
How to plant:
Although it can be grown from cum , it ’s easy and more reliable to purchase nursery - grown plant since hybrids may not grow true to seed and some varieties are unimaginative . Provide ample space between plants , since many tend to grow wide-cut than tall .
CATMINT CARE AND MAINTENANCE
employ catmint in mixed containers like this “ Brooklyn Heights ” formula that include ‘ Cat ’s Meow ’ catnip , Angelface ® Blue Angelonia , and Snowstorm ® Giant Snowflake ® bacopa . picture by Proven Winners .
Water requirements:
Water new plants or transplants regularly through their first develop time of year until they become established . After that , they will very rarely require supplemental tearing . Nipponese Nepeta cataria ( N. subsessilis ) will do good from veritable watering to keep the soil moist .
Fertilizing:
give the correct growing term , Nepeta cataria is unlikely to call for fertilizing , and applying it can even result in floppy stems and few heyday .
Pruning:
Some plants may go into a summertime quiet after the first flush of blooms has faded . fleece your plants back by a third or more will reenergize them for a second bloom cycle and bring forth lush new foliation . Even without being sheared , they will often reprize bloom , although not quite as prolifically .
Deadheading is unnecessary to prevent ego - sowing because the seed of hybrids are sterile . However , it may help arouse new flower growing .
Propagating:
It is one of the easy plant todivide , and doing so every 3 or 4 years in gloaming will help to keep it vigorous . Simply use a spade to separate rooted sections of an established flora and then replant the divisions , space them about a foot apart . Stem cuttings can also be shoot in the outpouring before flower buds organise and used for generation .
Pests and Diseases:
May be vex bythrips , which are well treated withinsecticidal soaporneem crude oil . Catmint , especially catnip ( N. cataria ) , is know to snub pests such as mosquitoes , aphids , squash bugs , lettuce loopers and more .
CATMINT PICTURES
Photo by : Proven winner
' Cat ’s Meow’—Buy now from Proven WinnersNepeta ×faassenii
Zones:
3 - 8
Height/Spread:
17 to 20 inches tall , 24 to 36 inch wide
Dense and colourful flowers incubate this catmint from early summer until fall . Its strong growth does not fall flat and grows to a broad hill throughout the growing season .
2025 NATIONAL LANDSCAPE PERENNIAL OF THE twelvemonth
' Cat ’s Pajamas’—Buy now from Proven WinnersNepeta ×faassenii
12 to 18 inch tall , 18 to 20 inches wide
This new hybrid may be the most showy yet . Unlike most , which farm bloom only at the tops of the stems , this one is stifle with indigo - blue blooms from the root peak all the path down to the base . Even after the bloom of youth peak in midsummer , flushed purple calyx stay to prolong the coloured showing .
2021 National Perennial of the Year
Photo by : Walters Gardens Inc.
‘ Walker ’s Low’Nepeta racemosa
2 to 2½ feet tall , 2½ to 3 feet wide
Do n’t countenance the name gull you . This adorable cultivar , dubbed after the garden in Ireland where it originated , bears good plume of lavender - puritanical blossom near a fundament long . It blossom extravagantly for month on goal , from late spring through midsummer . Named the 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association .
picture by : Sandy Pruden / Millette Photomedia
Junior Walker ™ Nepeta ×faassenii
5 - 9
16 to 18 inches marvellous , 2 to 3 feet encompassing
This compact version of ‘ Walker ’s Low ’ is covered from May to September with bright lavender flowers , apply in impenetrable clustering above attractive mounds of blue - green leafage . take as one of Colorado State University ’s Top Perennial Performers for the 2013 season , praise for its vigor , floriferous use , and sterling operation as a groundcover .
photograph by : Universal Images Group North America LLC / DeAgostini / Alamy Stock Photo
' down Wonder’Nepeta racemosa
9 to 12 inches tall , 12 to 18 in wide
Brimming over with royal blue flowers from later bound to early autumn , this charming gnome variety is just the correct height for butt flower beds and paseo or for use as a long - blooming ground cover . Selected as a industrial plant of Merit by the Missouri Botanical Garden for its undischarged quality and safe performance .
‘ Purrsian Blue’Nepeta ×faassenii
14 to 18 inch grandiloquent , 18 to 30 column inch wide
A come to combination of periwinkle drab heyday shroud in saturnine purple calyces create an telling show from late outpouring until the first hoarfrost . Will nearly double in breadth ( to over 2 feet across ) the 2nd time of year after implant , quick fulfil in your garden ’s bare spot .
exposure by : John Richmond / Alamy Stock Photo
‘ Six Hills Giant’Nepetahybrid
2 to 3 feet tall , 3 to 4 feet broad
Growing up to 3 feet tall and 4 metrical foot wide , this is one of the largest cultivars and easily one of the showiest . From late natural spring onward , masses of fragrant two - lipped lilac-colored - disconsolate flowers tug above the dense gray - immature leafage , create an eye - catch video display for the midriff or back of sunny garden beds .
Photo by : Holmes Garden Photos / Alamy Stock Photo
‘ Snowflake’Nepeta ×faassenii
4 - 8
10 to 12 inch tall , 18 to 24 inches wide
offer a change of tread from the typical blue and lavender tones , this cultivar is blanket by delicately scented snow white efflorescence from late spring to other gloaming . Forms a neat low - acquire agglomerate that is perfect for the front of the margin or edge a footpath . It also looks gorgeous when intermingled with its purple - hue opposite number .
Photo by : wasilisa / Shutterstock
CatnipNepeta cataria
3 - 7
2 to 3 feet tall and wide
This true Nepeta cataria is easy grown full sun to part refinement , in middling , well - drained grunge . Catnip is passing drought large-minded , but prefers some afternoon specter in hotter , southern climates . White with purple spotted flowers bloom in clusters at the close of prow from late spring into summer . Its leaves have been used for many twelvemonth as a medicative herb and is loved by housecats . Catnip also acts as a repellent for many garden pests including aphids and squeeze bugs . It can get out of hand in some field , see more information onwhere this mintage is considered invasive .
LANDSCAPING IDEAS
Garden uses:
Butterfly garden , borders , herb gardens , mass plantings , groundcover , rock candy garden , and as an butt against industrial plant along walkways . Can also be used as a substitute forlavender , since they partake in a like color pallet .
Good companions:
Catmint ’s cool - toned foliage and blossom fuse well with most other color , peculiarly reds , deeper regal tones , pink and yellowness . cherry roses and catnip are a classic combination , but evenly attractive ruby-red - blossom familiar includeVeronica spicata’Red Fox',Monarda didyma’Pardon My Cerise ' , and red valerian ( Centranthus ruber ) . In the purple color spectrum , try pair catmint with ‘ Purple Ruffles ’ basil , drumstick alliumsand purplecoral bells , such asHeucheraDolce ® ' Wildberry ' . Just about any white-livered - flower industrial plant looks secure alongside catmint , but those sharing like growing requirements and bloom times includeCoreopsis grandiflora‘Early Sunrise’,Achillea‘Moonshine’yarrow , and yellowdaylilies , such asHemerocallis‘Stella de Oro ’ .
Last updated : 2024-12-24
