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| I just planted a few of these about a month ago and I love them so far. I did some research before ordering them and it seems some people found them to be aggresive self sowers while others have had no problems whatsoever. I decided to take the chance. Have you grown this before? Here's a (rather poor quality) photo of it in my garden: |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I have grown it for years with no problem. One of my favorite fillers to use in my rose bouquets. I think you will love it. Lesley |
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- Posted by GreenHearted 5a (My Page) on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 17:54
| Thanks for sharing Lesley! I'm glad to hear its not a thug in your garden. It's such a charming plant. I bet it would look wonderful with roses! |
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- Posted by gardenweed_z6a N CT (My Page) on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 18:58
| Do you know the cultivar name? Nepeta (a.k.a. catmint) 'Walkers Low' is a sterile cultivar. Mine have been growing in my full sun garden beds for five or more seasons and have never seeded around. They have the added benefit of blooming for the entire growing season. I did a search for Calamintha var nepeta on the Missouri Botanical Gardens website and it returned no results. Perhaps you plants were mislabeled. |
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| I absolutely love my Walker's Low Catmint. I have two rather large clumps of it in a full sun mulched bed. Blooms all summer long and the pollinators get in line for it :) I've enjoyed the nepeta clan so much, I've bought a couple other varieties and even purchased a variegated calamintha this spring. It is also doing well. |
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| I think it should be Calamintha nepetoides which I have. In regards to seeding around, I may have seen some seedlings early this spring, but they were so small I simply hoed them out because I didn't know what they were for sure. Kevin |
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| That looks like the white one on my monitor - Calamintha nepeta White Cloud sowed some in my garden but it wasn't ever much of a problem. Calamintha nepeta Blue Cloud was more of an issue, had a definitely more 'assertive personality'... |
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| keven is right, the name of the plant pictured in the greenhearted's post is Calamintha nepetoides. It is not related to the popular Nepetas (Walkers Low and others). My C. Nepetoides is well behaved. Seedlings are minimal. It is a bee magnet and a very nice filler in the beds and in a bouquet. Great little plant. |
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- Posted by GreenHearted 5a (My Page) on Mon, Jul 14, 14 at 10:32
| Thanks for input everyone. Yes, this is Calamintha var nepeta or Missouri Botanical Gardens refers to it as Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta per the link below. It is not the 'White Cloud' cultivar. I'm thrilled that it is a bee magnet... I haven't seen hardly any this year so I'm trying to do everything I can to encourage them. Dogg, while it is a different plant, I also have 'Walkers Low' and I love it to pieces. Looks great most of the season and requires almost no maintenance. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Calamintha
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| In doing a bit of research, it looks like Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta is simply a synonym for Calamintha nepatoides. In other words, they're the same plant. I would suspect, nepatoides is more commonly used, but I'm not sure about that. Wiki's list of species: Calamintha acinos - a synonym for Acinos arvensis, also called basil thyme Kevin |
This post was edited by aachenelf on Mon, Jul 14, 14 at 11:53
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- Posted by GreenHearted 5a (My Page) on Mon, Jul 14, 14 at 12:22
| Yes, I believe you are correct Kevin, that they are the same plant -- straight species, not a cultivar. The nursery I bought these from is very reputable. They had the common name as Lesser Calamint. It may just be a case of botanists messing with the names =) I still refuse to call sedum Hylotelephium for no good reason other than than I just prefer sedum. |
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| I've had the blue form of the calmintha for years. For me it is a love/hate relationship. It is great ground cover and edger plant and beloved by bees. BUT it is also a prolific re-seeder. I try to deadhead before it sets seed but I am not always successful. I am constantly pulling out seedlings everywhere. |
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| "It may just be a case of botanists messing with the names" Oh Lord! Do they like to mess with names! I was an orchid grower for many years and it was almost impossible to keep up with the name changes. It drove one nuts at times. Kevin |
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- Posted by GreenHearted 5a (My Page) on Mon, Jul 14, 14 at 15:48
| Very interesting that 'Blue Cloud' seems to be more aggressive with the self seeding. I'm glad that a least a few members haven't had any problems with the white calamint and will hold out hope that I'll have the same experience. Yeah, botanists are a funny group... sometimes they get so hung up on details, they miss the forest for the trees! |
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