Re: Not quite a shade plant

In a message dated 7/13/04 10:20:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
skaggsbv@WORLDNET.ATT.NET writes:



        <<< I have a question about Catmint.  How invasive is it?  It looks
pretty in pictures and in the
     nursery yard, but none of them say anything about how fast it grows.
The part of the name
     that says "mint" kind of puts me off.>>>

I would guess you mean Nepeta.   You are probably on the wrong list with
Nepeta as it will not do well in shade.  It is most definintely not a shade
tolerant plant.   Sometimes cats like it, sometimes not.  Ours are not interested in
catmint and we have three cats.  We did once have one that destroyed every
plant.

Nepeta does not spread by underground stolons.  It does enlarge as a clump
and often divides itself so several clumps are found after a few years.  There
are so many cultivars on the market now that you will, again, need to research
the size, leaf and bloom that you want.  The large ones are floppy and can be
managed by cutting clean off to the soil line after the first spring growth.
As far as I can see there is no specific bloom period, they will bloom anytime
throughout the summer.  The is a high pH plant if you want optimum conditions
though it grows well here in acidic unfertile soil common to the mountains.

Nepeta produces a rounded bushy perennial that adds a blue haze to a garden
when interspersed with other less leafy perennials.  Part of the picture, not a
specimen plant.  Some of them produce seed and will seed around though in
zone 4 very few survive.  It is hardy anywhere.

Like all perennials, some years it is a star in the garden and other years,
it takes some time off.  So, it is good to grow two or three cultivars and give
it more than one year to mature.  This is one of those plants that needs to
be dug up and divided once in a while to be vigorous and healthy.  When you
want a definitive answer, you need to post your location or as you can see, all
kinds of responses come in.

Claire Peplowski
NYS zone 4
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