Nepeta faassenii Cats Meow - Catnip

This Nepeta x faasseni 'Cat's Meow', also known as Catmint or Cat's Meow, is a recent cultivar that is particularly compact and floriferous, and undoubtedly one of the best. It offers clouds of small lavender-blue flowers for three months on a compact and spreading cushion covered with small silver-green, aromatic foliage. Tolerant to drought, this very hardy perennial loves sun and light, and will grow even in stony and poor soils. It forms lovely borders, blends beautifully with rocks, and can be used to create beautiful potted displays.

The Nepeta x faassenii, the plant that cats adore, is a perennial belonging to the Lamiaceae family and results from cross-breeding between N. racemosa and N. nepetella, native to central and southern Europe. This horticultural development has given rise to numerous interesting varieties for gardens, including 'Cat's Meow'. It is a bushy, branching perennial with a compact and spreading habit, forming a flowering tuft 40 cm (15.7 in) tall and with a spread of 50 cm (19.7 in). The foliage is deciduous to semi-evergreen. In spring it forms a cushion covered with small, velvety, silver-green leaves that release a curious fragrance reminiscent of buckwheat pancakes, mint, and animal musk when crushed. It blooms from June (sometimes earlier in favourable climates) to October, with a short resting period during summer droughts. It is covered with a profusion of long, flexible spikes adorned with tiny light blue to lavender-blue flowers with purple bracts, very attractive to pollinating insects. If spent flowers are removed it will produce fresh, dense foliage and new blooms.

The beauty of its foliage, the generosity of its blooming, and its compact habit make 'Nepeta Cat's Meow' an essential plant for dry gardens, and very easy to incorporate into containers. It looks stunning in rock gardens or on walls, where it forms a silver moss and a blanket of blue flowers, just like aubrietas or wall campanulas. Combine it in flower beds with yellow phlomis, ballotes, or red shrubby salvias.