Nepeta Junior Walker is a showy dwarf perennial offering early summer through early fall interest. An excellent robust landscape plant with a long blooming season, and seldom out of bloom, it flowers freely in large, dense, light lavender-blue flower spikes. Borne on upright stems, the flowers are extremely popular with pollinators, especially bees and butterflies.
A Nepeta x faassenii cultivar, commonly called catmint or nepeta, Junior Walker is a freely branching herbaceous plant that has a compact, low mounding habit of finely textured gray-green leaves that emit a minty scent when bruised or crushed. Nepeta Junior Walker is sterile, so it concentrates all its energy on producing masses of flowers instead of seed. Often grown as edging and groundcover, the plant is shown to best effect when massed or grouped. It is an excellent bed or border plant and will gracefully cascade over the edges of a container.
Remarkably low maintenance, catmint prefers full sun to part shade and average, dry to medium, well-drained soils. In hot summer climates, light afternoon shade may be beneficial. Summer mulch helps to keep roots moist and cool. Fertilize plants once per month during growing season and shear flower spikes after initial flowering to encourage continued bloom. The plant is drought tolerant and is bothered by few pests, including deer and rabbit.
