Nepeta (Nepeta × Faassenii ‘Select Blue’)

Features and Characteristics

Nepeta × faassenii is a sterile hybrid (N. racemosa × N. nepetella) perennial catmint of horticultural origin (Dutch nursery of J. H. Faassen). It typically forms a spreading clump of decumbent, ascending and upright stems rising to 18-24” tall and spreading to as much as 36” wide. Gray-green leaves and lavender-blue flowers are highly aromatic.

Genus name comes from the Latin name for certain aromatic plants that included catmint.  It  may honor the city of Nepete (known as Nepi today) located north of Rome in Etruria which was the ancient country located between the Arno and Tiber Rivers and was recognized, prior to the rise of Rome, as the center of the Etruscan civilization.

Specific epithet is in reference to the Dutch nursery of J. H. Faassen.

‘Select Blue’ is a compact cultivar that grows in spreading mounds to 18” tall. As the cultivar name suggests, it is perhaps best noted for the true blue color of its flowers. It features scalloped, ovate, gray-green leaves that are aromatic when crushed or bruised. Two-lipped, blue flowers densely clustered in raceme-like whorled cymes bloom from May to September. Although Nepeta cataria is the true catnip loved by house cats, the leaves of this hybrid, although somewhat less enticing, are also attractive to cats.