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3.5
3.5" Perennial
3 or more $6.00 ea
Regularly: $6.99 ea

Catmint ‘Serene Frost’

Scott's Nursery Ltd.

$6.99
Title

Bring a touch of crisp, luminous elegance to your garden with this exceptionally distinct cultivar. Unlike traditional purple catmints, it produces a spectacular mass of delicate, airy blooms that float like a layer of fresh morning frost over a dense cushion of foliage. The uniquely frosted, silver-toned green leaves perfectly offset the bright flower spikes, creating an enchanting, high-contrast glow that illuminates sunny borders, modern beds, and patio containers.

Photo courtesy of Dümmen Orange or www.dummenorange.com

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Plant Details

Mature Size:

16" H x 20" W

Zone:

3-8

Watering:

Low

Type:

Herbaceous Perennial

Growth Rate:

Fast

Light:

Full Sun/Partial Shade

Plant Profile

Common Names:

Serene Frost Catmint, Frosted Ornamental Catmint, White-Flowered Faassen's Catmint

Scientific Name:

Nepeta × faassenii 'Serene Frost'

Type:

Filler / Ornamental

Growth Details:

Mature Size: 14 to 18 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide.

Growth Habit: Tidy, highly branched, uniform mounding habit.

Form: Compact, dense, rounded cushion.

Growth Rate: Fast.

Flowering: Packed spikes of small, tubular flowers.

Flowering Time: Early summer through late summer (June to August).

Flower Colour: Clean white to pale icy blue-lavender.

Environmental Needs:

Exposure: Full sun to part shade.

Soil Preferences: Average, gritty, well-draining garden loam or sandy soils.

Soil Tolerance: Highly resilient in poor, dry, or rocky soils; will rot if left in standing water or soggy clay.

Watering: Low to moderate; let the soil dry out significantly between watering intervals.

Container Role: Performs perfectly as an architectural, mounding Filler in mixed perennial arrangements.

Special Features:

Disease Resistances: High natural immunity to common garden pests, powdery mildew, and leaf spots.

Native Species: No (Cultivated garden hybrid).

Fast Growing: Yes.

Attracts: Highly alluring to butterflies, honeybees, and wild bumblebees.

Uses: Front of the border framing, low hedging, rockeries, cut flowers, and patio pots.

Resistance: Highly deer-resistant and rabbit-resistant due to the pungent mint oils in its stems.

Care Guide

Ornamental & Landscape Value

Seasonal Interest:

Bloom Information: Highly showy, dense flowering spikes that completely blanket the silvery foliage for months.

Fall Colour: The aromatic foliage retains its soft gray-green tones well into late autumn before dropping.

Garden Value:

Ornamental Interest: Striking frosted, silvery-gray aromatic foliage paired with uniquely pale, airy flower spikes.

Landscaping Uses: Ideal for low-maintenance path edging, rock gardens, urban mass plantings, and defining border lines.

Garden / Landscape Benefits: Offers a cleaner, tighter, non-flopping habit compared to older catmint varieties. Provides continuous colour contrast.

Wildlife & Human Value:

Wildlife Value: Provides a long-lasting, critical sanctuary food source for beneficial insect pollinators.

Human Value: Exceptional structural edging plant that creates an instant "finished" look along harsh hardscape lines. Emits a pleasant minty-herbal fragrance when brushed against by foot traffic.

Planting & Care Guide

Planting Considerations:

Best Time To Plant: Plant in spring or fall when natural rainfall helps the roots settle without heat stress.

Spacing: Space 18 to 20 inches apart to allow the tight, mounding branches to meet uniformly.

Location Tips: Position in open, breezy areas with sharply draining soil to prevent winter crown moisture damage.

Companion Plants: Coordinates beautifully with dark purple Salvias, dark-foliaged Heucheras, Red Coral Bells, and striking Coneflowers (Echinacea).

Care:

Light Requirements: Best grown in full sun, but comfortably adapts to very light afternoon shade.

Moisture Requirements: Water regularly during the first growing season to establish a deep root system; highly drought-tolerant once established.

Maintenance, Fertilization: Shear the entire plant back by one-third after the primary early summer flowering flush to encourage a clean rebloom. Avoid heavy compost or synthetic fertilizers, as lean soil preserves its tight, upright structure.

Tolerances:

Extreme summer heat, drought, poor rock-filled soils, and severe winter cold.

Tips For Success:

Thinning / Pinching: Not required due to its naturally dense, improved branching genetics.

Support / Staking: Completely self-supporting; engineered specifically to resist lodging or flopping open.

Special Needs: Strictly avoid soggy, water-retentive mulches like heavy shredded bark directly against the plant crown.

Mulching: Use a thin layer of gravel or sand mulch to keep the root crown perfectly dry.

Winter Protection: Leave the spent winter top-growth intact until early spring to shield the roots from extreme freeze-thaw cycles.

Fruit Profile