Sometime around May a certain fragrance tells us that it’s time for sunny days and warm weather. It’s Nepeta! Catmint, as it is commonly called, is a free bloomer whose billowy mounds of lavender, pink or white flowers are as opulent as its aromatic foliage.
Supposedly, this herb renders timid people fierce, and the botanist Tournefort tells of a hangman who couldn’t cut the mustard “til he chewed a little catmint root.” Make sure you have some Loosestrife around in case things get out of hand.
Cut back in July for an encore in the fall.
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