Combine catnip: with roses to cranesbill

On a June morning, catnip stands in the bed as if someone had turned up the volume: bees and butterflies crowd the violet-blue panicles. No matter how beautifully the Nepeta x faassenii blooms on its own, its appearance alone remains a beautiful motif with no dissenting voice. The easy-care, bee-friendly perennial only develops its full effect when you combine catnip: with roses, tall perennials, grasses or onion flowers, depending on the role that the partner should play in the bed. This is exactly where its strength lies – it closes gaps, blooms for weeks and tolerates drought, and all of this really comes into its own in good company.

Combining catnip with roses: the classic

Hardly any other neighborhood is as proven as catnip with roses. The violet-blue flower veil forms a low base from which the roses rise – a color that goes particularly well with yellow noble roses and delicate pink tones. Standard roses look good along a sunny path, planted under catnip to hide the bare bases of the trunk. Both share the same requirements: lots of sun and well-drained soil.

In front of a wall, it’s worth playing with height. Place the catnip at the front, behind it airy gypsophila (Gypsophila paniculata) and as a back wall tall larkspur (Delphinium elatum) in blue – this creates a gradation that makes the bed appear deeper. For early summer, ornamental garlic (Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’) underplants a rose bush to bring purple balls into the picture, long before the catnip reaches its peak.

Structure and height: these perennials provide backbone

Rosen are not the only partners with stature. If you want to give the bed a backbone, place towering neighbors next to the low perennial. In country house style, panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), sedum (Hylotelephium telephium) and lilies (Lilium hybrids) harmonize with the catnip that fills the ground between them. The lush flower balls of a peony (Paeonia lactiflora) are particularly effective in front of a dark hedge.

For the cottage garden, the mixture of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and poppies – such as the dark variety Papaver orientale ‘Patty’s Plum’ – is a long-time favorite. The loose, filling growth habit of catnip closes the gaps between the tall stems so that no bare spots remain. Similar to other bed combinations – such as the appropriate companion plants for lilacs – the effect comes from the alternation of height and flat undergrowth.

Grasses and ground cover bring movement to the bed

Grasses bring something to the bed that flowers alone cannot do: movement. Next to a garden bench, the feathery stalks of Hakonechloa macra and the evergreen clumps of the Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii) together with purple steppe sage (Salvia nemorosa) and catnip act like a soft cushion. Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ (Miscanthus) sets a silvery accent in the modern front garden, complemented by white and purple petunias.

Riding grass (Calamagrostis) is ideal for dry city beds because it can withstand heat and drought just as easily as catnip itself. The Pyrenean cranesbill (Geranium endressii) with its delicate pink flowers is recommended as a gap filler on the ground. If you would like to think further about the interaction between flowering perennials and stalks, our guide on how to combine hydrangeas and ornamental grasses will also help with catnip.

Bulb flowers for the start of early summer

So that the bed shows color before the main season, it’s worth taking a look down – at the onions. Large ornamental allium varieties such as Allium giganteum or ‘Globemaster’ place purple balls on slender stems in front of a hedge that seem to float above the still low catnip. Smaller but just as effective is Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’ directly on the rose bush.

The trick is in the timing: The bulbs go into the ground in autumn and bloom in spring to early summer – exactly in the phase before the catnip reaches its main bloom. So the ornamental onion makes the first appearance, and when its balls fade, the violet-blue perennial is already there to fill the stage.

Which planting partners are better to avoid?

As much as catnip likes to combine, not every neighborhood is good for it. The reason is always the same location: it needs full sun and well-drained, rather dry soil. Plants with conflicting requirements quickly find themselves in trouble.

Danger For very shade perennials such as hostas (Hosta): They need cool, moist soil and should be kept in a sunny, dry place. Plants that are permanently wet, such as the marsh marigold or the Siberian iris (Iris sibirica), which are at home at the edge of the pond, are also not suitable. And overgrown neighbors such as bamboo overgrow the loose catnip over time and deprive it of light and root space. If you exclude these three groups – shade, wetness and aggressive foothills – from the outset, you will save yourself the most disappointments.

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Plant catnip correctly: planting distance, location and pruning

So that the catnip can develop freely, keep a distance of 30 to 40 centimeters from the neighboring plant. At this distance it grows together into a closed cushion in the second year without crowding the roots of its partners. It’s up to you whether you use the perennial as a continuous bed border along a path or as a flat filler in the middle of the bed – both work.

The second pile is the real bonus – hardly any other perennial rewards a short cut so reliably with a fresh round of flowers. Whether you grab the scissors immediately after the June bloom or leave the withered stalks standing over the winter depends on the bed: If the stems remain standing until spring, they provide shelter for insects and protect the root ball in the event of frost.