Nepeta clarkei - Catnip

This Nepeta clarkei is a Himalayan Catmint, not well known despite its abundant flowering and ease of cultivation. This perennial plant forms a beautiful clump of leafy stems that become adorned in early summer with delicately bicoloured flowers, lavender-blue with a white throat. The crinkled leaves, aromatic when crushed, enhance the charm of this robust and generous plant which  has its rightful place in a rural setting. Plant it in full sun in well-drained soil, alongside other carefree perennials such as salvias and perennial geraniums.

Nepeta clarkei is a perennial plant belonging to the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the high mountains of Pakistan, Kashmir, northwest India, and Tibet. Its natural habitat consists of rocky slopes and open, sunny areas alongside streams and lakes, up to an altitude of 3000m (9842ft). Very hardy, this species enjoys sunlight but dislikes excessively dry soils, as befits a mountain dweller.

It is a herbaceous perennial with a thick, woody rhizome, which from spring onwards produces numerous upright, branched leafy stems, reaching approximately 65cm (26in) in height (sometimes 80cm (32in) depending on growing conditions). The entire plant forms a dense clump measuring 60 to 70cm (24 to 28in) in width. The quadrangular stems are hairy near the base and bear more or less ovate to triangular, dentate-edged leaves, 5 to 7cm (2 to 3in) long and 1 to 4cm (1 to 2in) wide. The leaves are crinkled and strongly veined, slightly hairy, grey-green in color, and loaded with essential oil glands. Flowering generally begins in June and extends until July. The leafy stems produce dense clusters or whorls of small bilabiate flowers, measuring 1.5cm (1in), pale blue to mauve in colour, speckled with white, enclosed at the base in green to purple-violet bracts. The overall effect creates a beautiful medley of blue, white, and violet on the floral stems. This flowering is highly attractive to pollinating insects.

The Himalayan Catmint, like other Nepeta species, is a perfect plant for a carefree garden that creates space for wildlife. This unassuming plant is easy to combine in flowerbeds with other perennials (yarrow, penstemon, perennial geraniums, linaria, herbaceous salvias, gauras) or small flowering bushes such as bluebeards, mallows, or shrubby salvias, as well as with baptisias and dwarf buddleias.