Grow an Award Winner
Stopping to smell the flowers
Arlene Marturano

Arlene Marturano is a master gardener, writer, and educator. As an advocate of gardening as a tool for learning, she helped develop the Carolina Children's Garden at the Sandhill Research and Education Center. She is an education consultant with T.E.A.C.H.

marturano@yahoo.com

Each year the Perennial Plant Association selects a hardy perennial to enter the flower hall of fame.

Candidates are chosen for low maintenance, suitability across a wide range of climatic conditions, ornamental interest across seasons, availability to the consumer, and ease in propagation.

Nepeta Walker's Low is the 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year. The cultivar was named for the Irish garden where it was first found in the '70s. A nursery in England introduced Walker's Low to the gardening public in 1988. This catmint, a member of the mint family, has wrinkled, aromatic, silver- grey leaves and prolific blue- purple flowers clustered on upright arching stems. The herb stands 30- 36 inches tall with a matching spread. Flowers bloom continuously from May to frost, if pruned back by two- thirds after the initial flowers fade.

Photo by Arlene Marturano

Walker's Low is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8. The roots prefer well- drained soil and a neutral pH. Acidic soil in the Midlands will need limestone to adjust the pH. Nepeta prefers full sun but will tolerate partial shade during hot summers.

Its pest and disease resistance appeals to novice and veteran gardeners.

The awardee has numerous uses in landscape, and its longevity makes it a popular companion for early and late blooming perennials like coreopsis, dianthus, and salvia.

Its vigorous growth habit and beautiful color make it a substitute for the more temperamental lavender. For an old fashioned garden, nestle catmint with foxglove, peonies, pinks, and bearded iris. Catmint blends comfortably with other grey- green herbs like artemisia, sage, thyme, and lamb's ears.

Rose growers underplant their roses with Nepeta to hide unattractive lower stems. Gardeners feature Nepeta in fragrant borders along garden pathways or as eye- catching specimens in containers.

Catmint attracts bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies but deters deer and rabbits. Feline friends will appreciate the dried leaves in their toys but should not have fits of frenzy among Walker's Low as would occur with Nepeta cataria, catnip.

Your garden may become "the garden of the month" by planting borders and clusters of the perennial of the year.