I was doing research on the Perennial Plant Association’s 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year, which is Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low,’ commonly called catmint. I started thinking of the many garden plants named after cats and dogs.
First, some information on ‘Walker’s Low.’ Introduced in Europe in 1988, ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint has become increasingly popular due to its lovely blue-violet flowers, long bloom time, attractive grey-green foliage, ease of propagation, lack of pest or disease problems, and low maintenance requirements.
‘Walker’s Low’ grows 30-36 inches tall. It is named for a garden and obviously the name is not related to its size as it is taller than the more common edging catmints. It grows best in full sun and prefers a well-drained, neutral pH soil. ‘Walker’s Low’ is a good companion for early and late-blooming plants, herb gardens, mixed borders and even as a container plant. The leaves have a wonderful aroma when brushed against or crushed. It will bloom throughout the growing season if properly deadheaded and attracts bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. Best of all, deer and rabbits dislike it.
Another plant named after our feline companions is catnip. This herb in the mint family is best known for making cats crazy happy. Catnip was brought to America with the early settlers and was grown as a commercial crop as early as 1796. It escaped cultivation and today can be found in woodlands and along trails and roadsides. Catnip has neat crinkled gray-green leaves and white to pale violet flowers. Folklore has catnip tea treating everything from colds to cancer. It deserves a place in today’s herb garden for its use in calming teas (it has the opposite effect on people that it does on cats), salads and cat toys. Euell Gibbons made candied catnip by dipping the leaves into a mixture of beaten egg white and lemon juice. He sprinkled both sides with sugar and let them dry for a day.
A common shrub that most of us are familiar with named for our canine friends is dogwood. Actually the word dogwood comes from dagwood, from the use of the slender stems of the very hard wood for making daggers. Around 1548, the name was changed to dog-tree and by 1614 it had been transformed to dogwood. The common name dogwood may have come about because dogs were washed with a brew made from its bark.
A beautiful spring wildflower known as dogtooth violet is blooming now in local woodlands. It is also known as trout lily, a more descriptive and more accurate name, since it is not a violet at all, but a lily. The leaves are speckled like a trout’s skin and the flowers are yellow, white or light pink. The name dogtooth violet comes from the shape of the bulb.
Some other plants named for our animal companions are dogbane, cattails, pussytoes and pussy willow. And, um, my husband suggested cauliflower.
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