Nepeta faassenii Kit Cat - Catnip

Nepeta x faasseni 'Kit Cat' is a recent creation with a particularly compact shape. Unlike larger varieties, it maintains its tidy appearance throughout the summer. This flowering catmint has a very long flowering period of beautiful lavender-blue blooms. Its rather dark green foliage emits a unique fragrance when touched, intensified by hot and dry weather. It flowers for over 5 months, forming lovely borders and beautiful containers.

Nepeta x faassenii, the plant that cats love, is a perennial belonging to the Lamiaceae family, resulting from the cross-breeding of N. racemosa and N. nepetella, native to central and southern Europe. This horticultural creation has given rise to numerous interesting varieties including 'Kit Cat' (sometimes spelled 'Kit Kat'). It is a bushy, branching perennial with a compact and spreading habit, forming a mound of 30-35 cm (12-14in) high, spreading up to 40 cm (16in). The foliage is deciduous to semi-evergreen. In spring, it forms a cushion covered with small velvety, grey-green leaves with toothed edges, which release a curious scent when crushed, reminiscent of pancakes, mint, and musk. It flowers 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 lavender blue flowers with purple bracts which are loved by pollinating insects. If faded flowers are removed, it regrows fresh, dense foliage and new flowers.

Its legendary drought-tolerance, understated elegance, generous flowering, and tidy appearance make Nepeta 'Kit Cat' an essential plant for dry gardens, and easy to incorporate into flowering containers. It is stunning in rockeries or on walls, where it creates a green mound covered in a blanket of blue flowers, much like aubrietas or wall bellflowers. Combine it with yellow phlomis, ballota, or red shrub sage in flower beds Nepetas are traditionally good companions for old roses.