'Walker's Low' Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii 'Walker's Low') is a tough, award-winning perennial celebrated as the 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year. Despite its name, which honors a historic English garden rather than its physical height, this sterile hybrid forms large, billowing mounds of aromatic, crinkled grey-green foliage topped with a five-month display of lavender-blue flower spikes.

Enjoy Five Months of Color

Walker's Low produces hundreds of trumpet-shaped indigo flowers that open in late spring and keep blooming into mid-autumn if you shear the plant back mid-season. Because it is a sterile hybrid, it will not aggressively re-seed or take over garden beds the way traditional mints can.

Give the Plant a Mid-Season Refresh

After the initial flush of late-spring blooms begins to fade in early summer, shear the entire plant back by one-third to one-half. This cleans up the sprawling foliage, sparks a fresh flush of clean silver-grey leaves, and forces another round of flowers heading into fall.

Welcome Pollinators, Not Pests

This plant is highly attractive to honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, bringing steady garden activity through the growing season. At the same time, the aromatic essential oils in its crushed foliage naturally repel deer and rabbits, so it draws pollinators without inviting browsing damage.

Grow It Almost Anywhere Sunny

Walker's Low reaches 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, with individual flower stems up to 3 feet long that arch gracefully to keep the overall mound neat and low. It performs best in full sun with at least 6 hours of daily light, though light afternoon shade helps in especially hot, humid regions. It thrives in poor, sandy, or rocky soils as long as they drain well, needs almost no supplemental fertilizer, and is hardy across USDA Zones 3 through 8. It works beautifully softening stone retaining walls, edging sunny walkways, or planted in masses beneath taller roses and shrubs to hide their bare lower stems.