Product Field NotesCompanion Plants
Lemon Purrfection Catmint: Gold Leaves Under a Blue Haze
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Lemon Purrfection catmint flips the usual catmint look. Instead of gray-green leaves, it forms a dense dome of small, scalloped golden-yellow leaves that hold their color through summer heat, topped with short spikes of lilac-blue flowers from early June onward. In part shade the leaves lean toward chartreuse.
At 10 to 12 inches tall, it is a tidy edging plant, the kind of thing you plant along a lavender bed and then wonder why you did not do it years ago.
Lemon Purrfection at a glance
| Trait | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Nepeta 'Lemon Purrfection' |
| Flowers | Lilac to lavender-blue spikes |
| Foliage | Golden yellow, chartreuse in part shade |
| Size | 10 to 12 inches tall, 16 to 18 inches wide |
| Bloom | Early June, peak mid-June, long season with strong rebloom |
| Hardiness | USDA zones 3 to 8 |
| Light | Full sun |
| Wildlife | Excellent for bees and butterflies; deer and rabbits avoid it |
One of lavender's best partners
Catmint and lavender are a classic pairing for good reason: both want full sun, lean soil and very little fuss, and both bring a soft blue-violet haze that bees love. Lemon Purrfection adds something the standard catmints do not, a band of gold foliage that makes the lavender's silver leaves and purple spikes look sharper.
Use it as a front edging along a lavender row, in between lavender groups where you want low color, or in containers on a sunny patio. It blooms alongside the lavender and keeps going after the harvest. Plan combinations in the Companion Plant Planner.
Planting and care
- Soil: lean to average and well drained. Root and crown rot in wet soil is the main risk.
- Water: through the first season, then only in long dry spells.
- Feeding: skip it. Rich or overwatered soil makes catmint sprawl.
- Shearing: it keeps flowering without a hard cutback, but trimming by about a third to a half after the first flush neatens the mound and pushes fresh rebloom into fall.
- Spacing: give it air. In humid heat, crowded plants can open up in the center; a midsummer trim fixes that.
Winter and spring
Lemon Purrfection is very winter hardy in Michigan when drainage is good. Leave the stems standing over winter, which helps protect the crown, and cut back in early spring once new growth appears. You can often do this on the same day you check your lavender for spring pruning.
Plug tray or bare root
Choose the 72-cell plug tray for long edging runs, mass plantings or potting up your own stock, or a bare root plant for a single spot in a home bed. See each product page for current availability.
Frequently asked questions
Will my cat roll in it?
Some cats are interested in catmint and some ignore it. The foliage has a pungent, minty-herbal scent when brushed, which is also part of why deer and rabbits leave it alone.
Can I cook with it?
No. Lemon Purrfection is grown as an ornamental, not for eating.
Will the gold leaves burn in full sun?
The foliage is known for holding its color through summer heat in full sun. In part shade it simply turns more chartreuse.
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