General Culture:

Easily grown in slightly acidic to slightly alkaline, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers evenly moist soils, but tolerates some drought. Tolerates light shade in the afternoon. May spread in the garden by rhizomes and/or self-seeding to form an interesting ground cover. Stems may root at the nodes where they touch the ground. Shear or cut back plants after flowering to tidy the planting, to remove unsightly foliage and/or to prevent any unwanted self-seeding. Easily started from seed. Plants generally do not perform well in the deep South below USDA Zone 7.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

Calamintha nepeta (see H470 herein) is a bushy, rhizomatous, perennial herb of the mint family that is native to Europe and the Mediterranean region. It typically forms a dense, indefinitely spreading, foliage mat with upright leafy flowering stems rising to 12-18” tall. Ovate, gray-green leaves (to 3/4” long) are very fragrant when crushed. Tiny, tubular, two-lipped, lilac to white flowers appear in axillary spikes (cymes to 15 flowers each) over a long June-September bloom period. Flowers are attractive to bees. In comparison to species plants, Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta is a more vigorous performer with slightly larger flowers, larger inflorescences (to 20 flowers) and larger leaves (to 1.25” long). Leaves may be dried for potpourris or sachets. From Greek, Calamintha means beautiful (kalos) mint (mimthe). Nepeta is in reference to the resemblance of the plant to catnip.