Best catmint (Nepeta) cultivars

I have grown *Nepeta* 'Walker's Low' along the front border of my garden in Melville, Long Island for six years. It is probably the single most low-maintenance, high-impact plant I grow. The clumps bloom lavender-blue from late May through late June, I cut them back to 4 inches after the first.

I have grown Nepeta 'Walker's Low' along the front border of my garden in Melville, Long Island for six years. It is probably the single most low-maintenance, high-impact plant I grow. The clumps bloom lavender-blue from late May through late June, I cut them back to 4 inches after the first flush, and they rebloom from mid-August through frost. The deer have browsed other plants around them but have never touched the catmint. They have survived my sandy loam, occasional summer droughts, and three zone 7a winters without any special treatment.

The genus Nepeta contains roughly 250 species, but most garden catmints are either Nepeta × faassenii (sterile hybrid, does not set seed) or N. racemosa selections. Per Missouri Botanical Garden, N. × faassenii is a hybrid of N. racemosa and N. nepetella, sterile (which prevents the reseeding that makes true catnip (N. cataria) weedy), and the parent of most ornamental catmints in the trade.

Species and hybrid background

Per NC State Extension, the most common garden catmints are:

• ***Nepeta × faassenii*** — sterile hybrid; the majority of named ornamental cultivars; does not reseed
• Nepeta racemosa — seed-fertile; some cultivars derived from this species; smaller and slightly different bloom habit
• Nepeta sibirica — taller species (2—3 ft); less commonly grown; per Missouri Botanical Garden, used for larger borders