Lesser Calamint Seeds

Lesser calamint is two plants in one: an Italian kitchen herb and one of the longest-flowering perennials a bee could ask for. Neat, bushy clumps of small grey-green leaves smell of mint and oregano, and from midsummer into autumn they disappear under clouds of tiny pale lilac to white flowers. In Tuscany and Rome it is known as nepitella or mentuccia, cooked with mushrooms, artichokes and courgettes. Clinopodium nepeta is hardy and drought tolerant, at home at the front of a sunny border, in gravel or in a pot. It should not be eaten during pregnancy.

Sowing and growing

• Sow indoors March to May on the surface of seed compost; the seed needs light
• Plant out in late spring, or sow in a seedbed May to June
• Surface sow and press in lightly; do not cover
• Germination takes 14 to 28 days at 15 to 20°C
• Full sun in light, free-draining soil; tolerates dry spells once established
• Grows to about 30 to 60 cm tall and 30 cm wide
• Pick leaves from summer; flowers July to October, mostly from the second year
• Hardy herbaceous perennial

What you receive: a packet of about 100 seeds from Piccolo Seeds, with growing instructions on the back.

It belongs with our plants for wildlife and pollinators, and you will find more herbs in our seed collection.