Calamintha nepeta - Calamint

Calamintha nepeta, also known as lesser Catmint, is a perennial aromatic, culinary, and digestive plant that exudes a powerful scent of mint from its small, hairy leaves. It offers a beautiful haze of small, honey-flavoured flowers ranging from white to pinkish-purple from summer to autumn. In the garden, Calamintha nepeta easily finds a place in rockeries and borders where it readily self-seeds. It is an excellent plant for dry and limestone soils, perfectly suited to the Mediterranean region.

Calamintha nepeta, the lesser catmint, belongs to the large family of Lamiaceae, like mint, marjoram, thyme, sage, and other mints. It is a spontaneously occurring botanical species in southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. It is a rhizomatous plant with a dense stump. Its vegetation sometimes persists in winter warm regions, but disappears in colder regions. In spring, it forms a neat little cushion. The thin, square-sectioned stems elongate and then branch out, making a beautiful clump that reaches 40 cm (16in) in all directions. The leaves are very small, hairy, slightly toothed, dark grey-green, and remarkably aromatic: at the slightest touch, they release a characteristic, refreshing scent. Flowering starts in June-July and continues until October. It is unassuming but charming: the tiny flowers, carried by tall inflorescences, bloom over a long period. Their initially pale colour becomes increasingly bluish-purple as temperatures drop in autumn.

Calamintha nepeta is at home in dry Mediterranean-type gardens, where it tends to self-seed everywhere. But it easily adapts further north if planted in well-drained soil that is not too wet in winter. This aromatic plant is traditionally used dried, in small quantities, in many Corsican and Italian culinary specialties, and sometimes in infusions. Adapted to arid conditions, as well as poor and rocky soils, it works well in rockeries, on slopes, along pathways or borders, and between paving stones. It is an excellent complement to many flowers in the garden, especially red and fuchsia sauge arbustive, Caryopteris, gauras, and asters suited for dry soil.