{"id":5868,"date":"2014-07-20T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-07-20T16:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=5868"},"modified":"2014-07-18T11:52:44","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T15:52:44","slug":"long-blooming-and-versatile-catmints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2014\/07\/20\/long-blooming-and-versatile-catmints\/","title":{"rendered":"Versatile Long-blooming Catmints"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><div id=\"attachment_5869\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Nepeta-faassenii-Blue-Wonder-3.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5869\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Nepeta-faassenii-Blue-Wonder-3-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Nepeta faassenii &#039;Blue Wonder&#039; (3)\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Nepeta-faassenii-Blue-Wonder-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Nepeta-faassenii-Blue-Wonder-3-1024x685.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#039;Blue Wonder&#039; Nepeta Growing At Kingwood Center, Mansfield, Ohio<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>Catmint (<em>Nepeta spp.<\/em>) is a favorite of cats who like to roll around in it, sometimes to the detriment of the plant(s) (USDA hardiness zones 3-8). There are several species of catmint. Most popular are the gray-green leafed <em> N. x faassenii <\/em> and hairy gray heart-shaped leafed <em>N. racemosa<\/em>. Depending on the cultivar selected, this versatile perennial grows 1 1\/2 to 3 feet high and varying widths.<\/p>\n<p>Catmint grows in average well-drained soil and in full to partial sun (6 hours minimum); shade-grown plants are floppy and flower poorly. One-year established catmints exhibit exceptional heat, drought, and humidity tolerance. Established plants prefer dry (not sopping wet), and low fertility soil.<\/p>\n<p>Catmints bloom from late spring to early fall. Purple, blue, pink or white flowers (depending on species and cultivar) bloom over 3-4 weeks. Prune back plants by two-thirds in late June or July to stimulate August-September re-bloom. Catmints need to be divided every 3 &#8211; 4 years in early spring. Cutback old foliage in late winter rather than in the fall.<\/p>\n<p>Plants are highly deer and rabbit resistant. Hummingbirds and numerous nectar gathering bees and butterflies visit the aromatic flowers. Foliage is seaside\/salt resistant. The aromatic blooms make good cutflowers and are utilized in floral designs.<\/p>\n<p>Catmint grows in flower gardens, rock and herb gardens, and in containers. Low-growing cultivars work as great edging plants in front borders and as a perennial ground cover.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Popular cultivars<\/strong>:<br \/>\n<em>N. racemosa <\/em>\u2018Walker\u2019s Low\u2019 grows 24 to 30 inches high with blue violet sterile flowers and aromatic grey green foliage (2007 Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year).<br \/>\n<em>N. x faassenii <\/em>\u2018Six Hills Giant\u2019 is a taller growing catmint (30 to 36 inches high) with dark green leaves and deep violet-purple blooms.<br \/>\n<em>N. x faassenii <\/em>&#8216;Blue Wonder&#8217; is a compact grower (12 to 15 inch tall plant and greater spread), dark green leaves, and dark blue blooms. &#8216;White Wonder&#8217; has white blooms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Catmint (Nepeta spp.) is a favorite of cats who like to roll around in it, sometimes to the detriment of the plant(s) (USDA hardiness zones 3-8). There are several species of catmint. Most popular are the gray-green leafed N. x faassenii and hairy gray heart-shaped leafed N. racemosa. Depending on the cultivar selected, this versatile [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,749,778,645,674,806,1012,628,1102,625,843,706,646,455,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5868"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6318,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5868\/revisions\/6318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}