Yay for Pollinator Plants

Mimi’s Homegrown Catnip is the star of the front yard right now, just as Mimi always was. An annual native plant in the mint family, catnip, or Nepeta cataria, (see where they got that name?) seeds itself where it will, often blown on the wind or occasionally spread by songbirds who eat the seeds. Catnip is irresistible to pollinators like bees and butterflies as soon as its tiny flowers open, and it’s one of the best pollinator plants to have around with flowers if you gather seeds or let plants self-seed, or vegetables in your garden.

Mimi was the one who discovered it as soon as the first leaves sprouted in the front yard about a decade ago, nuzzling the tiny leaves in that particular way a cat does, then falling down and rolling on the tiny seedling. Catnip is tough and even when she ate it down to nubs it just sprouted more leaves and managed to outgrow her nibbling, attracting bees and dropping its first seeds that year. Mimi visiting the catnip along the front walk was a daily habit when it was available, even in cold months when a few leaves could still be found growing in cracks in the front walk, but she even just liked to take a nap under it or in the shade on the walk. That sounds like an endorsement to me so I named our front-yard variety Mimi’s Homegrown Catnip.

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