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Calamintha nepeta Marvelette Blue - Lesser Calamint

Calamintha nepeta Marvelette Blue
Lesser Calamint

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Gold Medal Fleuroselect winner in 2016. This aromatic perennial plant has a powerful sweet and menthol scent. It produces a haze of small melliferous flowers in intense violet-blue between summer and autumn, depending on the climate. Calamintha nepeta is a lovely plant for dry soil, used in small quantities when dried in many Corsican and Italian culinary specialties, as well as in infusions. Hardiness: -12 to -15°C (10.4 to 5°F) in well-drained soil. Sowing in spring, between 18 and 21°C (64.4 and 69.8°F). Flowering in the first year.
Flower size
5 mm
Height at maturity
30 cm
Exposure
Sun
Annual / Perennial
Perennial
Germination time (days)
25 days
Sowing method
Direct sowing, Sowing under cover, Sowing under cover with heat
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Sowing period March to June
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Flowering time May to October
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Description

Calamintha nepeta 'Marvelette Blue' is a small variety selected and awarded for its more colourful flowering, with intense violet-blue colour, as well as for its more compact, ball-shaped habit. It is a small, highly aromatic, highly floriferous, and highly drought-resistant perennial plant. Its small, villous leaves have a powerful scent of mint and bitumen. Its flowering, with great delicacy, is nectariferous and melliferous, and can be admired from summer to autumn. In the garden, the small Calament 'Marvelette Blue' thrives in sunny rockeries and borders. It is a plant perfectly adapted to the Mediterranean region. It can also be grown in pots like other aromatic plants.

Calamintha nepeta 'Marvelette Blue' was obtained in 2014 and awarded the Gold Medal at Fleuroselect in 2016. This cultivar is derived from Calamintha nepeta, the false-nepeta calament, which belongs to the large family of Lamiaceae, like mints, marjorams, thymes, salvias, and other lavenders. It is a spontaneous botanical species in southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. It is a rhizomatous plant with a dense stump. Its vegetation sometimes persists in winter in the Mediterranean region, but disappears in colder regions.

The small Calamintha 'Marvelette Blue' is capable of flowering just 12 weeks after sowing. This perennial plant forms a low, neat cushion in spring. The thin, square-sectioned stems elongate and branch out rapidly, creating a small, round clump of about 30-35 cm (12-14in) in all directions. The leaves are very small, villous, slightly dentate, dark greenish-grey, and remarkably aromatic: with the slightest touch, they exude a characteristic scent, both sweet, powerful, and very refreshing. Flowering begins in June-July and continues until October, depending on the climate. It is abundant and charming: the numerous small flowers, slightly larger than those of the species, borne in inflorescences, bloom for a long period. Their colour is vivid, a blue tending towards mauve.

Calamintha nepeta 'Marvelette Blue' is an ideal plant in dry Mediterranean gardens, but it adapts easily further north if planted in well-drained soil, not too wet in winter. It is suitable for arid situations, as well as poor, limestone, and rocky soils. It works wonders in rockeries, on slopes, along paths or borders, and between the paving stones of a Japanese step. It can also be welcomed in patio planters. Its misty blue flowering is an excellent complement to many garden flowers, especially red and fuchsia pink shrub salvias, Caryopteris, Perovskia, Gaura, and Asters. Lastly, this aromatic plant can be used dried, in small quantities, in many Corsican and Italian culinary specialties, or as infusions.

 

 

Flowering

Flower colour mauve
Flowering time May to October
Flower size 5 mm
Fragrance slightly scented
Bee-friendly Attracts pollinators

Foliage

Foliage persistence Semi-evergreen
Foliage colour green
Aromatic? Fragrant foliage when creased
Foliage description Highly aromatic foliage when crushed.

Plant habit

Height at maturity 30 cm
Spread at maturity 25 cm
Growth rate fast

Botanical data

Genus

Calamintha

Species

nepeta

Cultivar

Marvelette Blue

Family

Lamiaceae

Other common names

Lesser Calamint

Origin

Cultivar or hybrid

Product reference20443

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Planting and care

Sowing advice: Seed germination can sometimes be long (between 1 and 4 weeks), and the germination rate can be irregular. If there is no germination after 4 weeks, place your seeds in the cold for 2 to 4 weeks (for example, in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator).

Sow from April to June directly in open ground, in well-prepared and loosened soil, or from March in a tray or seedbed under heated shelter at temperatures between 18 and 21°C (64.4 and 69.8°F). In open ground, keep only one plant every 50 cm (20in).

Sow the seeds on the surface of a good, light, moist, and well-drained soil. Cover with a thin layer of vermiculite or soil. Seal tightly in a transparent plastic bag at a temperature of 18 to 21°C (64.4 to 69.8°F) until germination. Expose the seedlings to light, as this facilitates germination. A tray placed under the seedbeds will allow watering from below, avoiding the need to move the seeds.

Transplant the plants, when they are large enough to handle, into 7.5 cm (3in) diameter pots. Grow them in a cool place (around 15°C (59°F)) for 10 to 15 days before planting them outside in spring or autumn, spacing them 50 cm (20in) apart.

Cultivation advice:

Plant Clinopodium nepeta in the sun, in well-drained soil, even rocky or sandy, and even limestone. It is a plant perfectly adapted to the long dry summers of our Mediterranean regions, where it self-seeds abundantly. Its hardiness is rather good (-12 to -15°C (10.4 to 5°F) at the coldest) in soils that do not retain too much moisture. Once well-rooted, this perennial is remarkably robust. Planting in spring is preferred outside the Mediterranean region. In this region, however, it is best planted in September-October.

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Sowing period

Sowing period March to June
Sowing method Direct sowing, Sowing under cover, Sowing under cover with heat
Germination time (days) 25 days

Intended location

Suitable for Meadow, Rockery
Type of use Border, Edge of border, Container, Slope, Vegetable garden
Hardiness Hardy down to -15°C (USDA zone 7b) Show map
Ease of cultivation Beginner
Exposure Sun
Soil pH Neutral, Calcareous
Soil moisture Dry soil, Well-drained

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