The catmints tend to be excellent nectar flowers - Nepeta x faassenii 'Six Hills Giant' being perhaps the most commonly grown out there, which can heave with bees.
So I was pleased while hunting around a garden centre at the weekend to see yet another cultivar 'doing the business' on the bee front - and with a butterfly indulging too.
The plant is Nepeta 'Walkers Low', which some people list as another x faassenii cultivar, while others call it a cultivar of Nepeta racemosa, originally a wild plant from the Caucasus. The RHS go with the latter, so I won't argue!
It grows to maybe 60cm (2 foot) tall, forming a good clump of rather greyish leaves with neatly serrated edges, and then sprouting numerous upright stems decked with, for catmints, quite large flowers, big-lipped and mauve.
Here (left) is my Small White butterfly and bumble playing good neighbours.
I normally avoid catmints like the plague, not because I don't like them (I love them) but because the local cats like them even more than I do and will trash them within days. Now I have read that cats are not so keen on Walkers Low, but at £6.99 it was too expensive as an experiment. But if you have catmint experiences you'd like to share - good or bad - you know what to do: add a comment!
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
I had Six Hills Giant in my garden for years. The bees and insects loved it but strangely my two cats usually ignored it. They also ignore any toys stuffed with catmint. My plant died last winter so I must buy some more seed or plants for this summer as personally, I do love it.
Kind regards Jane.