I have been swept off my feet by a flashy cat, appropriately named ‘Blue Dreams.’ The cat in question is botanical rather than feline, but it has many feline qualities. Like pedigreed, four-footed cats, ‘Blue Dreams’ has a fancy proper name—Nepeta subsessilis ‘Blue Dreams.’ Its stems arch gracefully, reminiscent of a cat’s back and, like every feline I’ve ever known, it favors sunny spaces.
I first connected with ‘Blue Dreams’ at a garden center in central New York State, where I went to buy a few new plants for the little beach garden at our summer cottage. ‘Blue Dreams’ was lolling on a pallet in the perennials section, waving its large, blue-purple flowerheads alluringly at customers. The bright green, oval-shaped leaves were lush and each flowering stalk ended with a five inch flowerhead bearing scores of two-lipped flowers. The entire plant, which was at least two feet wide, had the pungent minty smell that everyone associates with members of the catmint/ catnip clan. I snatched it up and ran for the check-out.
The presence of ‘Blue Dreams’ at the garden center is only the latest manifestation of the ongoing craze for nepeta or catmint. In 2007, a trade group, the Perennial Plant Association, named ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint as its Plant of the Year. On my block alone, I can think of several gardens with healthy stands of its relative, common catmint or Nepeta x faassenii. ‘Walker’s Low’ and other popular varieties generally share several important traits, including gray-green leaves, abundant stalks of blue-purple flowers and an easy going nature. And with deer rampaging through gardens from coast to coast, it is a relief to find a specimen that is simultaneously unappetizing to Mr. Antlers and his crew, unfussy about soil and tolerant of neglect. If you have cats, they will generally find catmint leaves somewhat intoxicating, though not as strong as true catnip or Nepeta cataria.
Last week I chopped back the spent stalks of the catmint in my upper back garden. To discourage deer from browsing the area, I used the clippings to mulch a couple of rose bushes. Harry, one of our two resident felines, now spends his afternoons like a slightly stupefied Roman emperor, lounging in a nest of the dried catmint under one of the roses.
‘Blue Dreams,’ developed by the German seed retailing giant, Jelitto, is one of several widely available varieties of the subsessilis species, also known as Japanese or short-stalked catmint. The plants, which can be two to three feet wide, with a similar spread, are larger than some other catmints and the relatively large, toothed leaves are bright green, rather than gray-green. The flowerheads are showier as well and heavy enough to bend the stalks, creating a billow in the border. Both ‘Blue Dreams’ and another widely available variety, ‘Cool Cat,’ feature blue-purple flowers. ‘Cool Cat’s branded sibling, ‘Candy Cat,’ bears flowers that have a pinkish purple cast.
Some of the smaller catmints make good edgers or front-of-the border plants. Not so with ‘Blue Dreams’ and its ilk. Given enough sun and consistent moisture, these nepetas grow into big cats and may even resemble small shrubs, making them better for the middle of the border. At this time of year, most of the short-stalked catmints have just finished blooming. The flowerheads tend to turn brown on the plant, which gives gardeners the perfect excuse for doing necessary pruning. Cut the catmints back by two thirds and they will immediately start revving up for a second flush of bloom in late summer or early fall. The pruning also helps keep the wayward branches from overwhelming nearby plants.
Catmints are so gorgeously exuberant that it is easy to forget that they are mints at heart and will spread and self-seed at the drop of a hat. To keep expansionist tendencies at bay, grow in containers—where they will succeed handsomely–or observe closely over the course of the growing season. It is easy to grub out unwanted seedlings and not all that difficult to divide overgrown clumps. Like many mints, nepetas may also root from stem cuttings.
Back in central New York, I installed my ‘Blue Dreams’ in the beach garden, where its coloring fit perfectly with the various varieties of lavender already there. For contrast, grow ‘Cool Cat’ and ‘Candy Cat’ in the same bed, accenting with some of the white-flowered yarrows and blue and white-flowered balloon flowers or platycodons, all of which bloom around the same time. Nepetas also love roses, so you could use the Japanese variety in rose beds as well. I think ‘Blue Dreams’ would look especially lovely growing near ‘Golden Celebration,’ one of David Austin’s best golden-yellow roses.
Some sources indicate that Nepeta subsessilis also makes a great cut flower. I can see the possibilities, but cannot imagine what would happen if I positioned an arrangement any place in my house frequented by the two cats. Suffice it to say their idea of arranging the catmint might come into direct conflict with my ideas of tidiness and furniture preservation.
Large garden centers and other plant retailers may still have some Japanese catmint on the pallets right now. If not, order yours from Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Rd • Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243, www.bluestoneperennials.com. Free catalog.