Catnip Care

Are your catnip and catmint blooms faded?

Have you cut the plant back to the ground yet?

When catnip is finished blooming it's time to cut it all the way back (unless you are after the seeds).

ALL the way back, don't be hesitant!  Oh, don't cut it off under the soil surface, don't go

crazy, but do cut it to the ground.

It will grow back!
It will grow back within days!

It may even have a chance to bloom again!

Here's my ordinary catnip (the cat's favorite) a couple of weeks after I cut off all the stems.

 This is one of my lemony catnips a week after pruning.  The cats hate this one.  The leaves smell lemony, but the flowers smell skunkish, like regular catnip! 

 Here's another lemony catnip in dire need of pruning, but the pollinators are still stopping by it regularly!  The leaves are yellowing, signifying it's time to go.

 All the growth on this Walker's Low catmint happened after I cut back its first blooms.

It doesn't take long for a catnip or catmint to come back!  

 Second flush of flowers off Walker's Low catmint. 

Catnip and catmint also need to be cut back for winter.  My lemony catnip completely dies back, so much so you can't tell where it is.  The others keep the cut back brown stems, with new spring growth appearing deep down among them (yes, I have to poke around in Walker's Low, I worry it's dead!).  I have yet to see what my new catnip does, the one grown from "Pink Cat" seeds that isn't "Pink Cat!"  It's a pretty deep purple, sprawling sort,  hanging over the edge of the Butterfly Garden.  It's blooming now, so cutting back will come later.

Catnip is a very perennial I've found to always come back.  I'm in zone 8b, with winters getting snowier. 

Oh, don't forget to divide the clumps every few years, especially if they are growing in containers!  Divide them in September or October once the plants are at least three years old.