Nepeta faassenii Junior Walker - Catnip

Nepeta x fassenii Junior Walker is a compact version of the excellent 'Walker's Low'. This catmint is just as floriferous as its parent, but shorter and denser, less prone to collapsing under the weight of its flowers. Its small green-grey leaves disappear under a multitude of mauve, nectar-rich, flower spikes in May-June. Cut back in late July and it will flower again in September-October. A gift for difficult and poor soils, this hardy perennial will grow in any well-drained soil. It suits all styles of gardens, enhances its neighbours, and looks wonderful with old or English roses.

Nepeta x faassenii Junior Walker belongs to the Lamiaceae family. Nepeta x fassenii is commonly called catmint because cats love it. It results from the cross-breeding between N. racemosa and N. nepetella, native to central and southern Europe. This horticultural hybrid has given rise to many very interesting varieties, including Junior Walker. It is a bushy, branching, compact and spreading plant, which quickly forms a beautiful 35-40 cm (14-16in) tall flowering clump, covering 75 to 90 cm (30 to 35in) of ground. The foliage is generally deciduous, but can sometimes be semi-evergreen depending on the climate. In spring, it forms a wide cushion covered with small velvety, soft grey-green leaves, which release a menthol or camphor scent when crushed. Junior Walker flowers from June (sometimes earlier in favourable climates) to July, then again in summer and autumn if cut back once the flower spikes have faded. The plant is covered with many generous spikes covered in tiny bright lavender mauve flowers, with violet velvety bracts which are loved by butterflies and other pollinators.  

Beautiful foliage and generous flowering make Nepeta x fassenii Junior Walker essential ground cover in the garden, even in dry conditions, and very easy to include in flower pots. It is also superb in rockeries or on walls where it forms a carpet of purple flowers, just like aubrietas or wall bellflowers. It can be used to border a path or walkway, to fill the base of bush roses, in wild-looking beds, or with Gauras and Sedum 'Matrona'. In a mixed border, its purple flowers contrast with the yellow blooms of yarrows, lady's mantle and Corsican spurge. It is also stunning with California poppies, rockroses and other cistus.