Nepeta faassenii Purrsian Blue - Catnip

Nepeta x faasseni 'Purrsian Blue' is a recent creation, similar to the 'Cat's Meow' catmint, with a particularly compact habit, neat appearance, and even more abundant flowering! It is also distinguished by its deeper blue flowering, a colour mainly due to the dark bracts that surround its small lavender-blue flowers. Its rather dark green foliage releases a unique fragrance when touched, which is intensified in hot and dry weather. It forms beautiful borders, flowering for more than 5 months. It pairs wonderfully with stones, and allows for beautiful potted arrangements.

Nepeta x faassenii is adored by cats! It is a perennial belonging to the Lamiaceae family, resulting from the cross-breeding of Nepeta racemosa and N. nepetella, native to central and southern Europe. This horticultural creation has given rise to many very interesting varieties for gardens, including 'Purrsian Blue' which is the subject here. It is a bushy, ramified perennial, with a compact and spreading habit, forming a 30 to 35cm (12 to 14in) tuft  when in flower, occupying up to 40cm (16in) of ground space. The foliage is deciduous to semi-evergreen. In spring, it forms a cushion covered with small velvety, fairly dark green leaves with toothed edges, which emit a curious fragrance when crushed, evoking a mixture of buckwheat pancakes, mint, and animal musk. It flowers from June (sometimes earlier in favourable climates) to October, with a short resting period in case of summer drought. It is covered with a profusion of long, flexible spikes adorned with tiny periwinkle-blue flowers with purple-smoky bracts. The flowers are popular with pollinating insects. If faded flowers are removed, it regenerates new, dense foliage and produces another flowering.

Its legendary frugality, generous flowering, and well-groomed appearance make Nepeta 'Purrsian Blue' an essential plant for dry gardens. It is incredibly easy to plant in containers. It is superb in rockeries or on walls. Combine it in borders with yellow phlomis, ballota, or red shrubby salvias. Nepetas are traditionally good companions for old roses, with which they form a romantic and refined marriage.