3 Chartreuse On The Loose Nepeta Planted By Pizza Oven - May 2025

#15 on my 2025 to-do list is to "lean into plants that are working".   That largely means planting things that have been successful - either by getting established or not being destroyed by drought, rabbits, soil conditions or disease.   

In 2022, I planted my first few Nepetas.  Catmint.  Roy Diblik up at Northwind Perennial Farm uses Nepeta in his matrix plantings and after researching a few varieties, I bought Cat's Pajamas and planted it IB2DWs.  Cat's Pajamas has been a good garden plant in both IB2DWs and I also have one in the cut flower garden on the side.  I haven't divided them (yet), but that's probably something I should look at for this year.  

I'd put Nepeta into the category of plants that "are working".  With the new (large) pizza oven bed needing to be filled, when I came across a new (to me) variety of Nepeta, I decided to bring home three of them.

This chartreuse-colored Nepeta is named "Chartreuse on the Loose".   The big box nursery had quart-sized containers.

Here, below, is the back of the plant tag with a description:

Walters Garden describes it:

'Chartreuse on the Loose' is a perennial with season long interest perfect for lining the front of the border. The foliage allows for a full three seasons of interest with bright chartreuse yellow leaves. Clusters of lavender blue flowers are produced just above the foliage and appear all summer long. Unlike most catmint, 'Charteuse on the Loose' will continue to produce flowers without being cut back.

It doesn't require that "Chelsea Chop" - which is nice.  But, the color is what I'm after.

I've recently read (somewhere??  Maybe Erin the Impatient Gardener said it??) that a good way to bring 'repetition' through the garden is with color.  And, using chartreuse to 'pull the eye' from from to back is one way to accomplish that.  With some chartreuse already in the garden (Sun King Aralias), my thought was that this little colony can be part of that pattern - which...if done well....leads to "legibility".  

These are small, but I spaced them about twelve-inches apart as I've recently come to the conclusion that I've been planting too-far-apart in most cases.  Here they are below - right next to the pizza oven retaining wall:

I pulled back the mulch and dug three nice holes.  I backfilled with some municipal biosolids to get these going quickly.  

And, here below, are the three Nepeta all tucked-in.  And mulch pulled-back over the crowns.  

This bed is SCREAMING for way more planting this year.  It will likely be home to a couple of Dahlias.  But, the border is going to be filled with - I hope - a long row of Hakonechloa macra Japanese Forest Grasses. 

The rest is going to be a combination that I've thought about for years.  More on that soon.