Round Robin: Growing Nepeta in New York
By Elisabeth Sheldon
February/March 1993
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Most varieties of Nepeta grow just fine in New York.
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LANSING, New York — This is still the quiet time of year when we gardeners happily burrow around in books and store up strength for the big push in spring. Some of us also spend part of each day exercising to keep in shape; April and May are taxing months, and one must think ahead. I have a wonderful place to walk: a country road high above Lake Cayuga. As I chug briskly along, I enjoy the color combinations—cobalt blue lake, white snow-covered fields with swaths of yellow-ocher corn stalks poking through, burnt umber of nearby woods, dark gray of those far away. Bramble bushes are purple with a silver bloom on them, like that of ‘Concord’ grapes, and even in January the maple trees have dark red tips, promising rosy flowers later.
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Back at my desk, I’m thinking about nepetas, or catmints, which are a special interest of mine. For several years, I’ve been growing as many of them as I can find seed for in seed-exchange lists. Nepeta grandiflora and N. sibirica are tall and attractive enough to grace an herb garden but don’t have enough charm or impact for a perennial border, it seems to me.
The plant that is sold in this country as N. mussinii, with N. ¥ faassenii often given as an alternate name, is almost always N. mussinii. For some reason, the two plants have become confused, although they are not hard to tell apart. N. mussinii is smaller with broader, greener-gray leaves, and it seeds itself freely. N. ¥ faassenii,, a cross between N. mussinii and N. nepetella, is more upright and billowy, has grayer, narrower leaves, and is sterile. I keep sending for plants listed as N. ¥ faassenii and getting N. mussinii. I’ve just about given up.
Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ (N. gigantea) is a hybrid probably involving N. ¥ faassenii. At any rate, the two plants I’ve received of this from two different nurseries have long grayish leaves and exuberant spirits. They throw their flounces about over a circle at least 4 feet in diameter. You have to clear away all small plants in their neighborhood, or by September, when you go looking for them, you’ll find nothing but damp, shrunken bodies under their skirts. ‘Six Hills Giant’ is a nice plant for those with enough room to devote to it, but so are N. m. ‘Blue Wonder’ and ‘White Wonder’, which take up much less space.