Nepeta grandiflora Border Ballet - Catnip

Nepeta grandiflora 'Border Ballet' is a superb garden plant, reliable, with endless flowering, melliferous, aromatic and fragrant. Its spike-shaped flowers are a bright violet-blue colour. Easy to sow, it blooms in the first year. Frugal and hardy, this perennial thrives in the sun, tolerating poor and rocky soils, or well-drained ordinary soils. This Nepeta enlivens wild gardens as well as those inspired by romance or the countryside, in borders, rockeries or pots.

Nepeta grandiflora is a rhizomatous perennial plant native to the Caucasus. It is found anchored in dry, stony and gravelly slopes or among rocks in medium mountain areas, up to the subalpine zone. Like other Nepetas, it is a plant of the mint family, strongly aromatic, containing essential oils responsible for its fragrance. The 'Border Ballet' variety offers flowering that can spread from June to October. It forms a small, spreading bush of about 35-40cm (14-16in) in all directions. The leafy flower stems, 60 to 90cm (24 to 35in) in height, with a quadrangular cross-section, are covered in fuzz. At the top, long spikes appear, with clusters of small bilabiate flowers in a bright violet-blue colour, nestled in dark violet bracts. Rich in nectar, they attract many pollinating insects. The foliage of this plant, more or less evergreen, is composed of very small wrinkled leaves in a dark green colour, rich in essential oils. When crushed, they release aromas of lemon and geranium, or even sweet and spicy notes. The flowering gives way to black or brown, ribbed fruits, which release numerous small seeds. They will easily germinate in light soil.

Nepeta grandiflora 'Border Ballet' belongs to the tribe of catmints. Easy to sow and cultivate, it is so accommodating and generous that it would be a shame not to enjoy it. Of good size, it has a place in all slightly informal gardens. It is essential in dry gardens, rockeries or in pots on terraces or balconies that you don't want to water too much. In sunny positions, it can be planted at the edge of flower beds in many regions, at the foot of roses, with asters and red shrub salvias.