Nepeta - Catmint for the Well-Tended Border

Nepeta—catmint to most country gardeners—has long kept faithful watch along cottage walls and monastery paths. Its blue-lavender blooms spill like cool water over stone, softening every hard edge with a gentle, knowing grace. Bees adore it, cats revere it, and any gardener with a bit of sense plants it in generous drifts.

Hardy, drought-tolerant, and stubbornly cheerful, Nepeta thrives where fussier plants faint. Give it sun, lean soil, and a little room to ramble, and it will answer with waves of color from spring till frost. Its fragrant foliage brushes against the ankles like an old friend, and its tidy habit makes even a wild garden look disciplined by tradition.

If you want a plant that works as faithfully as a parish sexton and asks as little as a country curate, Nepeta is your quiet ally. Plant it once, and let it weave that cool, timeless charm through borders, beside roses, or along the garden walk.