Nepeta
mussiniiCatmint
The whole plant is aromatic with a scent more complex than your typical European mints. Catmint is native to the Old World--Turkey and Iran--and is sometimes known as Persian catmint. Cats like it (beware: they might like it to death!) and mice don't. It gets its species name from a Russian count who "discovered" it in the Caucasus in 1801. It didn't repel the Russian Empire, but it does help repel bugs from plants it is set next to, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, spinach, and roses, so it's a good companion plant for veggie gardens. It is also combined with garlic and tinctured to make a safe insecticide for plants, and together with lavender is sprinkled around chicken runs to help keep mice and rats out. A tea is made from the fresh leaves in a ratio of 1:1 boiling water and herb. Add honey and sip slowly as an aid to sweating out a cold or for unwinding and insomnia. Together with a number of other herbs, it was an ingredient in a late Saxon medicinal ale prepared to expel the Devil and "all madness." Consider catmint as a protective plant around your home and for use in exorcisms and for evicting negative spirits. Top
How to Grow Catmint
Germinates in 7-14 days at room temperature. Usually started from transplants in spring (seeds are really too small to direct sow). Athough it's a perennial, it can bloom the first year, throwing up lots of spikes of small lavender flowers. It does not like it too humidly hot (won't prosper hotter than zone 9), but it will do well in dryish conditions, like a rock garden. Catmint is happiest with morning sun and afternoon shade (the east side of house--it likes to face the Old Country). This herb grows about 12"/30cm tall and wide. You can get it to make more blooms by cutting it back after the first flowering (keep the shearings for tea). Divide the root ball every few years if the clump starts to die back in the center. You can also grow this herb in a container. General growing info Top
Nepeta
mussinii
Catmint
50 seeds $3.25
Uses
in Witchcraft & Magic:
Protection Spells
Exorcism
Air Herb
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