Blue Wonder Catmint Perennial Plant - Nepeta racemosa - Gallon Pot

Nepeta racemosa, commonly called catmint, is Native to the Caucusus and northern Iran. It is a low-growing perennial that typically forms a spreading clump of decumbent, ascending and upright stems to 12” tall and 18” wide. Features gray-green, hairy, ovate leaves (to 1” long) with crenate margins, prominent veining and heart-shaped bases. Leaves are highly aromatic when crushed or bruised. Pale lilac to deep violet two-lipped flowers (1/ 2” long) clustered in loose raceme-like verticillasters (false whorls) bloom in spring. Bloom may continue throughout summer into early fall under proper growing conditions and with proper shearing of spent flowers. Although Nepeta cataria is the true catnip which drives house cats ecstatic, the leaves of this species are also attractive, albeit somewhat less enticing, to cats. N. mussinii Spreng. (plant named by Curt Polykarp Joachim Sprengel, 1766-1833. German professor of medicine and botany) is synonymous with N. racemosa, but N. mussinii hort. (plants sold in the horticulture trade) is synonymous with N. x faassenii. Genus name comes from the Latin name for certain aromatic plants that included catmint. It may honor the city of Nepete (known as Nepi today) located north of Rome in Etruria which was the ancient country located between the Arno and Tiber Rivers and was recognized, prior to the rise of Rome, as the center of the Etruscan civilization. Specific epithet means with flowers in racemes. 'Blue Wonder' is a dwarf, mounding, bushy perennial growing to 12" tall. Features small, abundant, two-lipped, trumpet-shaped, dark blue flowers in loose, interrupted racemes to 6". This plant is sometimes listed and sold by nurseries as Nepeta x mussinii 'Blue Wonder.' Full sun to Part Shade

• Good for Cats, Teas, Stews
• Color of Bloom: Blue
• Zones 3-8, Mature Height: 10-18"
• Months of Bloom: May-Sept
• Immediate shipping gallon pot. Dormant shipping in winter.