{"id":7081,"date":"2015-08-18T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T16:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=7081"},"modified":"2018-02-09T12:47:32","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T17:47:32","slug":"calamint-tough-reliable-perennial-ground-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/08\/18\/calamint-tough-reliable-perennial-ground-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"Calamint: Tough Reliable Perennial Ground Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10553\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Marvelette-Blue.png\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10553\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10553 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Marvelette-Blue-300x240.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Marvelette-Blue-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Marvelette-Blue.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-10553\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Variety &#8216;Marvelette Blue&#8217;<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_10554\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Blue-Cloud-3.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10554\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10554\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Blue-Cloud-3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Blue-Cloud-3-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Blue-Cloud-3-768x509.jpg 768w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Calamintha-nepeta-Blue-Cloud-3-1024x678.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-10554\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">C. nepeta &#8216;Blue Cloud&#8217;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Calamint (<em>Calamintha nepeta\u00a0<\/em>subsp<em>. nepeta<\/em>) is low mounding subshrub or perennial native to southern Europe; its primary use is\u00a0as a\u00a0low growing ground cover (USDA hardiness zones\u00a04 to 8). It is a member of the\u00a0<em>Lamiaceae<\/em>\u00a0family. Foliage\u00a0grows only\u00a015-18 inches tall. The subspecies, var.\u00a0<em>nepeta<\/em>, is the preferred choice because it produces more flowers per inflorescence.<\/p>\n<p>Calamint tolerates most soil types that are well-drained, and is at its best in full sun\u00a0with good air circulation.Blooms are white (buds lavender-pink). Airy plumes of small pale blue or white\u00a0flowers fill their garden spot from\u00a0June- October. Foliage\u00a0emits a\u00a0minty or oregano fragrance when stroked or brushed. Calamint blooms for multiple weeks in the summer and attracts lots of butterflies and bees.\u00a0Its scent keeps deer away.<\/p>\n<p>Calamint does not spread aggressively around the garden like regular mint. Clumps may be easily divided in early spring. Calamint is popular in Northeast and Midwestern U.S gardens.\u00a0Calamint tends to languish in warm and humid climates like the southeastern U.S. Snip back plant by one-third in late July to repair its ragged appearance and spur new flowering.<\/p>\n<p>Treat this\u00a0herbal perennial as short-lived, 3-4 years at most.\u00a0It is frequently substituted\u00a0for sometimes\u00a0iffy baby&#8217;s breath (<em>Gypsophila spp.<\/em>), plus add the aroma of calamint. It is excellent for edging a border\u00a0along a pathway or plant it in containers. It also \u00a0makes a great rock garden plant. In the kitchen crushed leaves\u00a0may be used to\u00a0flavor favorite pasta dishes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calamint (Calamintha nepeta\u00a0subsp. nepeta) is low mounding subshrub or perennial native to southern Europe; its primary use is\u00a0as a\u00a0low growing ground cover (USDA hardiness zones\u00a04 to 8). It is a member of the\u00a0Lamiaceae\u00a0family. Foliage\u00a0grows only\u00a015-18 inches tall. The subspecies, var.\u00a0nepeta, is the preferred choice because it produces more flowers per inflorescence. Calamint tolerates most soil [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,749,1190,521,778,645,1012,628,853,625,843,601,630,706,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7081"}],"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=7081"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10555,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7081\/revisions\/10555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}