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catmint?

20 years ago

Do any of you grow catmint? Otherwise known as

Nepeta faassenii 'Walker's Low'? How well does it grow for you? Thx

Comments (5)

  • 20 years ago

    It's wonderful. I went looking for some more yesterday.
    I planted a one gallon walker's low last spring and it bloomed all summer. I just trimmed it back this year and it should bloom until frost. I have it in part shade; morning sun, no direct sun after 2:00.
    I guess I'll have to root or layer it to make more.
    They had it this year again at Home Depot.

  • 20 years ago

    I grow it as well and I couldn't be happier with it. I have much of mine planted in full sun so it experiences some decline this time of year with the extreme heat. I also don't water it at all and watering would probably prevent some of that die back. But it's hardy enough and I know it will survive without my help so I spend my time watering the wimpier plants that will croak without my help. Cutting it back some when the bloom starts to decline in the summer should help it put out new growth and more blooms. It grows quickly and is easy to root to make new plants.

    All that being said, if you are planting a new one though be sure it does get adequate water until it gets established. Afternoon shade will help it too.

    Squirrellypete

  • 20 years ago

    Danielle, Do you just take cuttings and use rooting hormone? Or do you have to do anything special? I have one you gave me at the trade and sould love to have some more. Would you go ahead and take the cuttings now?

  • 20 years ago

    Hi Kathy. I take cuttings about 4-6 inches long and use rooting hormone. I stick them in a bed of sand (coarse construction sand, not the real fine stuff) and keep misted until they root. It is easy to root but I still lose some cuttings so I'd take as many as you can while still maintaining an attractive mother plant. They don't root 100% for me, more like 65-75%. I lose the rest to rot before they have a chance to root. It may be my watering practices need tweaking specifically for the catmint (I suspect they either need more shade than I'm providing and/or they need less frequent watering). The problem is I mist probably 40 different kinds of cuttings in the same bed at the same time so I just try to stick with a misting schedule that generally works for all my plants.

    The best time to take certain cuttings is still something I'm figuring out. I've been focusing mainly on landscaping shrubs so I haven't rooted any new catmint this year and I'm trying to remember when I took my best cuttings last year (I wanna' say they were spring cuttings, not summer). That being said, I would still give it a shot now anyway...it couldn't hurt. In fact I'm going to try and snip some this weekend so I will hopefully have some more catmint for the next trade. I've found that you can get most kinds of plant cuttings (softwood or semi-soft) to root spring through fall, it's just that some things will have an even higher percentage of success during certain times of year and types of weather.

    Hope that was helpful and have a good evening! Squirrellypete

  • 20 years ago

    Kathy
    I haven't grown Walker's but for most catmints you should be able to layer quite successfully. The plant accrues at the base and if you just want two or three plants I suggest upending the one you have and dividing it as you would any other herbaceous perennial. Wait until fall before you do that though, or even next spring/late winter. They don't skip a beat as far as bloom but you do have a smaller plants for that yr.

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