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Catnip

Nepeta cataria

The true catnip: a bushy, aromatic, grey-green herbaceous perennial herb with toothed, downy, mint-like leaves and summer spikes of small white, purple-spotted flowers. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as across Europe and Asia, and it has naturalised worldwide. Its leaves carry nepetalactone, a powerful euphoric attractant for cats - roughly two-thirds of cats respond by rolling, rubbing, and chewing - so expect neighbourhood cats to flatten it; the same compound has documented repellent activity against mosquitoes and some insect pests. It is a tough, drought-tolerant, easy herb that self-seeds and can spread and flop, so cut it back hard after flowering for a fresh, tidier flush. It is hardy across USDA zones 3a-9b. RHS lists Nepeta cataria as a hardy aromatic herb for bees and culinary/herbal use and rates it fully hardy (H7). It is a traditional human herb too - catnip tea is a mild, calming infusion and the young leaves have culinary use - and a good bee and pollinator plant. Note this is the species catnip (Nepeta cataria), distinct from the sterile ornamental catmint hybrid Nepeta x faassenii.

Climate fit: moderate (56/100)

Pollinator

Border

Edible

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

2-3 ft tall · 18" apart

Hardy in zones

3a-9b

brutally cold to frosty winters

Native in Illinois

No

Related products

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Well-suited

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 45 ecoregions - 41 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today · 3 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

18"

Habit

Bushy, aromatic, grey-green herbaceous perennial herb with toothed, downy, mint-like leaves and spikes of small white, purple-spotted flowers in summer. Its leaves contain nepetalactone, a powerful euphoric attractant that draws cats: about two-thirds respond by rolling, rubbing, and chewing, so expect neighbourhood cats to flatten the clump - the same compound has documented repellent activity against mosquitoes and some insect pests. It is a tough, drought-tolerant, easy herb that self-seeds and can spread and flop, so cut it back hard after flowering for a fresh, tidier flush. It is a traditional human herb as well - catnip tea is a mild, calming herbal infusion and the young leaves have culinary use, so it is parts-edible - and a good bee and pollinator plant. This is the species catnip (Nepeta cataria), distinct from the sterile ornamental catmint hybrid Nepeta x faassenii.

Care tips

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Cut the whole plant back hard once the first flush of flowers fades: it spurs a fresh, tidier second flush, curbs the prolific self-seeding, and renews a clump that cats have flattened.

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Give it sun and free-draining soil and let it dry between waterings - it is drought-tolerant and resents rich, wet ground, which makes it floppier and shorter-lived.

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Expect cats: about two-thirds will roll in and chew the leaves, so site it where that damage is fine, or shield young plants with netting or twigs until they are established and tougher.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in spring or autumn in ordinary, well-drained soil in full sun or part shade, spacing about 18 inches apart. It is unfussy and drought-tolerant once established, asking only for reasonable drainage; rich, wet soil makes it floppier and shorter-lived.

Transplanting

Move young, well-rooted plants or divisions in spring or early autumn, lifting a generous root ball; self-sown seedlings transplant readily while small. Cats may disturb freshly set plants, so a temporary cover of netting or a few twigs helps new transplants settle.

Early growth

Keep the soil evenly moist while the clump establishes, then let it dry between waterings - it is drought-tolerant and resents staying wet. Expect a bushy aromatic mound the first season, often with a first light flush of summer bloom.

Maturity

Mature plants reach about 2 to 3 feet tall and 18 to 24 inches wide, flowering through summer. Cut the whole plant back hard once the first flush of flowers fades to spur a fresh, tidier second flush and to curb the self-seeding; this also tidies a clump that cats have flattened.

Propagation

Increase by spring division of established clumps, by softwood or basal cuttings, or simply by transplanting the abundant self-sown seedlings - the species comes readily from seed. Deadhead or shear before seed sets if you want to limit the self-seeding.

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Calendula officinalis

Calendula (pot marigold)

An Old World cottage-garden annual grown for daisy- to chrysanthemum-like flowerheads (3 to 4 inches across) in bright yellow through deep orange, often with a contrasting darker center disk. In cool climates it blooms over a long summer-to-fall window; in hot summers it tends to languish and may need a midseason cutback to rebloom. The somewhat bitter flowers and lance-shaped aromatic leaves are edible, and the petals lend color to soups, rice, and baked goods.

Herb

Full sun / Part shade

Society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) is a clump-forming perennial herb from South Africa grown for its long season of small, star-shaped lilac-pink flowers, carried in airy umbels on slender stems well above narrow, grassy, grey-green leaves from late spring into autumn. The foliage is garlic-scented, and the leaves and flowers are edible, used like garlic chives in South African cooking - the friendly name comes from its milder, more sociable garlic breath. It is an easy, drought-tolerant, long-flowering choice for sunny borders, edging, and containers, and a reliable bee and butterfly plant. Native to the Cape provinces and KwaZulu-Natal, it is reasonably hardy (to about USDA zone 7 with sharp drainage) but can be cut back or lost in a hard winter, and the garlic scent is reputed to deter some insect pests and even moles. RHS gives Tulbaghia violacea (and the cultivar 'Silver Lace') its Award of Garden Merit and rates it half-hardy (H3).

Herb

Full sun / Part shade

An upright, clump-forming perennial of the mint family native to the upper Midwest, Great Plains, and into central Canada, named for its anise-scented foliage. From June through September it carries dense terminal spikes of lavender-to-purple two-lipped flowers above square stems and opposite, toothed leaves. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as a nectar source with special value to native bees, bumble bees, and honey bees, and it also draws butterflies and hummingbirds.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

A Mediterranean evergreen subshrub with gray-green velvety foliage + lavender summer flowers. Among the most useful kitchen herbs + a strong nectar source for honey bees, native bumblebees, and solitary bees. Perennial in zones 4a-8b; longer-lived in well-drained alkaline soils.

A compact, semi-woody aromatic herb of the mint family with narrow, dark-green leaves and dense spikes of deep-blue (occasionally pink or white) flowers from midsummer onward. A classic cottage- and knot-garden plant, hyssop is one of the very best bee and butterfly plants in the herb border, drawing honey bees, solitary bees, and nectaring butterflies to its blue flower spikes. It is also a traditional culinary and medicinal herb: the leaves and flowers carry a strong, bitter, minty-camphor flavour used sparingly in cooking and as a flavouring in liqueurs (it is one of the herbs in Chartreuse). Long grown as Hyssopus officinalis, its accepted botanical name is now Dracocephalum officinale, though it remains universally known and sold under the familiar Hyssopus name. It is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean across to central Asia (POWO, Kew), and carries that origin into the garden: it is easy, drought-tolerant, and sun-loving, asking only full sun and sharp drainage, and it gets woody and straggly unless clipped after flowering to keep it neat.

A drought-and-flood-tolerant native shrub of eastern North America with brilliant three-season interest - spring white-pink flowers, glossy black antioxidant-rich late-summer berries, and brilliant wine-red fall foliage - plus an extraordinarily wide cold-hardiness range (USDA 3a-8b). The berries are astringent fresh but the basis of a small but growing commercial industry (juices, wines, jams, supplements) for their exceptionally high anthocyanin content. Spreads by suckers; site where colony formation is welcome.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Educator packet

Plant packet

Catnip educator packet

The true catnip: a bushy, aromatic, grey-green herbaceous perennial herb with toothed, downy, mint-like leaves and summer spikes of small white, purple-spotted flowers. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as across Europe and Asia, and it has naturalised worldwide. Its leaves carry nepetalactone, a powerful euphoric attractant for cats - roughly two-thirds of cats respond by rolling, rubbing, and chewing - so expect neighbourhood cats to flatten it; the same compound has documented repellent activity against mosquitoes and some insect pests. It is a tough, drought-tolerant, easy herb that self-seeds and can spread and flop, so cut it back hard after flowering for a fresh, tidier flush. It is hardy across USDA zones 3a-9b. RHS lists Nepeta cataria as a hardy aromatic herb for bees and culinary/herbal use and rates it fully hardy (H7). It is a traditional human herb too - catnip tea is a mild, calming infusion and the young leaves have culinary use - and a good bee and pollinator plant. Note this is the species catnip (Nepeta cataria), distinct from the sterile ornamental catmint hybrid Nepeta x faassenii.

Scientific name

Nepeta cataria

Plant type

herb

Hardiness

3a-9b

Light

full-sun, part-shade

Moisture

moderate

Spacing

18 inches