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• #Cat mint plant how to

I planted it in an out-of-view spot since I like using catnip in tea and then went and asked a neighbor to dig up a division of her pretty low-growing catmint to transplant to the front garden. When I put out a request for catmint in a local plant exchange group, one kind member dug up a huge clump of catnip for me and deposited it at my door. Just go take a look at it for yourself before accepting someone’s offer of catnip or catmint, because odds are they don’t know the difference between them! You can likely get both catnip and catmint from neighbors, one of the many ways to get plants free. I’ve seen it on occasion at our local nursery and at farm stands selling potted herbs. If it’s sold at all, you might find the less attractive catnip plant with the culinary herbs. Once you’re familiar with these traits, you’ll never have trouble telling the difference between catnip and catmint again.Ĭatmint plant in flower (photo credit: Tomsmith585) Catmint’s flowers are usually purple, and the leaf shape and growth pattern differ from catnip, as you can see in the photos below. Flowers are usually white, sometimes with a pinkish tinge. To identify catnip vs catmint: Catnip has a more upright, rangy growth habit and larger leaves than catmint. You can tell catnip from catmint pretty readily by growth habit and leaf shape. Identifying catnip vs catmint is easy once you get familiar with the two plants. Perhaps its higher concentration of cat-attracting nepetalactone also explains catnip’s medicinal benefits for humans. It’s catnip ( Nepeta cataria) that’s widely used medicinally. Even herbalists writing about these two plants often conflate them or use common names for the plants that don’t distinguish between them. Some claim that both catnip and catmint can be used medicinally, though documented herbal uses of catmint are extremely scarce. Herbalist Maud Grieve, for example, lists catmint as Nepeta cataria in her beloved book, A Modern Herbal because in Britain that’s the name more often used for the plant known in many other parts of the world as catnip. One of the reasons catnip and catmint are so often confused is that in many parts of the world the catnip plant ( Nepeta cataria) is also called catmint. Cats like it OK, but they won’t go crazy for it the way they do for catnip. Is catmint the same as catnip? Though both are members of the mint family and in the genus Nepeta, they are in fact different species, though they’re often called by the same name.Ĭatnip ( Nepeta cataria) contains more of the compound called nepetalactone that cats find so attractive and it’s what you’ll most often find used in catnip treats and toys for cats.Ĭatmint species sold in garden centers typically include Nepeta faassenii, Nepeta grandiflora, or N epeta racemosa, but there are many more catmint species around the world.Ĭatmint is generally considered more attractive and well-behaved in the garden than its cousin catnip and is often used as a landscape plant.Ĭatmint is prized for its toughness and drought-tolerance.

#Cat mint plant how to

(Like pine and spruce! Here’s how to tell spruce vs fir vs pine if you’re curious.) Let’s start with a little clarification, since catnip and catmint are so often confused. CATNIP VS CATMINT: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATNIP AND CATMINT ANYWAY?