Catmint

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Ken Anderson, Jul 14, 2020.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    I planted a catmint plant at a point distal from the new lingonberry patch that I started. If it does well, I might get another one. Of course, if it does really well it will be able to spread on its own, and I won't have to get another one.

    Catmint is good down to zone 3, so it should survive the winters without trouble. It is a perennial, and there are several varieties of catmint, some with blue, purple, white, pink, or yellow flowers, and with various foliage colors.

    Generally, they are supposed to bloom twice, once in the summer and again in the fall. In Maine, however, this often translates to only once because our summers are short and winter often intrudes on fall.

    Right now, it's in a defined garden area but it's in a part of the yard where I could allow it to extend beyond where it is planted.

    The only downside is that it is supposed to prefer full sun, and I don't have any available areas with full sun, so partial sun is about the best I can do.

    Although some grower sites use catnip and catmint as synonymous words, they are separate plants, although related. Catnip is nepeta cataria, while catmint is nepeta mussinii. Catnip has a weedier appearance, while catmint is more often used as a garden perennial. Cats are, from what I read, attracted to catmint but not as obsessively as they might be to catnip.

    Catmint leaves can be used as a herb similar to mint. I tried growing catnip once and the cats - different cats than the ones I have now - tore it to shreds. I'll see what happens with the catmint.

    Bubba tears my beans to shreds, so he has to be watched. Thus far, I don't leave him outdoors by himself, however.

    800-2020-07-14 16.59.31-u.jpg 800-2020-07-14 17.00.54-u.jpg 800-2020-07-14 16.59.48-u.jpg 800-2020-07-14 16.59.58-u.jpg
     
    #1
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2020
  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    Today, I received four more catmint plants. Apparently, I had ordered them but I didn't remember doing so and wasn't expecting them. I think what happened was that I ordered them from a grower when I first began looking into catmint, but the grower took months to send them. Sometimes, if they think a plant is best transplanted at a certain time of the year, they don't ship them until then, or maybe they weren't available right away, Anyhow, I didn't remember ordering them, and since I had bought two others afterward, I didn't particularly need them.

    I didn't have any soil available either but I dug some up from the bottom of my compost pile and made do with that, although I usually mix it with peat moss or another type of soil.

    I don't know if they will last though. They are a different variety of catmint, and apparently the CAT part of this variety is emphasized, unlike the other two. Ella likes to lie next to the other catmint plants but she doesn't poke at them. She won't leave these alone, though. So far, she hasn't torn them apart but she's been poking at them ever since I planted them.

    If she lets them live, she will be able to enjoy them whenever she wants. Time will tell whether my cat is capable of long-range planning.
     
    #2
    Beth Gallagher and Yvonne Smith like this.
  3. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2015
    Messages:
    6,504
    Likes Received:
    6,751
    I though the cats like the catnip more than the catmint so she might not bother it too much. To get more plants try rooting hormone on cutting I think you will find that you can take cutting very easy. We would go out in the countryside and collect lots of catnip and dry it for our cats. Mother would make little catnip mice.
     
    #3
    Yvonne Smith likes this.
  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    There are several varieties of catmint.
     
    #4
  5. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2015
    Messages:
    6,504
    Likes Received:
    6,751
    @Ken Anderson
    When I see people interested in perennial brings back old memories. My father and I were in business when I was young growing and selling plants and vegetables. I went out in the countryside every weekend looking for wild flowers I loved it. I happened to come across an old business card of mine. This dates to about early 1950s Check out the phone number will tell you how long it was..

    ScreenShot_20200808164408.png
     
    #5
  6. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    I rarely buy annuals. I much prefer perennials and a wild sort of flower garden. I even dug up a weed that was growing at the town's compost pile and planted it in our garden. It produces a flower that stays in place for more than a month, and when I find something growing in my garden that I didn't plant, I'll let it live long enough to see if I like it. A weed is simply an unwanted plant, and I'm not as discriminatory as some people are.

    I tried calling that number, @Martin Alonzo, but nobody answered. ;)
     
    #6
    Yvonne Smith and Martin Alonzo like this.
  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    22,684
    Likes Received:
    32,179
    Interesting stuff.

    I love botany. When I got my first apartment, it had great southern exposure. I would buy houseplants and write their binomials on popsicle sticks and stick them in the pots. I've taken a couple of classes, but have never really been into outdoor horticulture.

    I once vacationed on the island of Martinique and took a hike through a rain forest. It's interesting seeing "house plants" in their native habitat. Bromeliads are beautiful in the wild.

    I've got a friend who owns his own greenhouse here in the county. I'll have to ask him about catmint.
     
    #7
    Yvonne Smith and Ken Anderson like this.
  8. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    Well, my catmint plants have survived a day and a half of Ella's attention. She isn't ripping them apart yet so there's hope.
     
    #8
    Martin Alonzo and John Brunner like this.
  9. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    My other two catmint plants have stems and leaves that are rigid, while these plants appear to be far more fragile.
     
    #9
    John Brunner likes this.
  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    22,684
    Likes Received:
    32,179
    By "these" do you mean the unexpected arrivals?

    Your comment on what "weeds" are reminded me of a friend back in Northern Virginia. She was big into "native plants." There's a movement of sorts among some folks who are doing this. They have swap meets where they share cuttings with each other.

    Of course, I had to ask her what "native" means. You go back too far and there's darned little that's of a "forever been here" nature that's survived. Too recent and you're wading through invasive species.

    It's interesting stuff...a real education to be had in the [subjective] decision making process.
     
    #10
  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    Yes.
     
    #11
  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    14,881
    Likes Received:
    27,873
    When we lived in Idaho, they had a small weekly farmers market each Saturday. One lady was selling little bags of catnip, and she described it something like “ primo, number one, killer catnip”, which surprised us when we first heard it.
    Apparently people smoke the catnip as a substitute for marijuana, and Bobby said that the two can be bred together, so that the catnip will have the same properties as smoking pot.
    Since she could not sell pot openly at a farmers market, but she could sell catnip all day long, we always wondered what exactly was in her catnip , since it was all crushed leaves in little bags.
     
    #12
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2020
    Bobby Cole and Ken Anderson like this.
  13. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
  14. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    14,881
    Likes Received:
    27,873
    Ken’s house in a few more months.....

    9FC7DEF2-3B14-4C2E-BC5A-E9FBA96793A2.jpeg
     
    #14
    Ken Anderson likes this.

Share This Page