Nepeta

Catmint

Sometime around May a certain fragrance tells us that it’s time for sunny days and warm weather. It’s Nepeta! Catmint, as it is commonly called, is a free bloomer whose billowy mounds of blue-violet, lavender, pink or white flowers are as opulent as its aromatic foliage. Supposedly, this herb renders timid people fierce, and the botanist Tournefort tells of a hangman who couldn’t cut the mustard “until he chewed a little catmint root.” Have some Loosestrife around in case things get out of hand. Cut back in July for an encore in the fall.