Nepeta in a Natural Garden

Nepetas spread slowly and although they can provide a sprawling look, tend to remain in clumps. Here a rock garden is liberally sprinkled with small clumps of a lower growing nepeta. You wouldn't normally think of Nepeta as an alpine plant, but since it is so adaptable and drought tolerant, it is quite at home here. It almost looks like a creeping Phlox and behaves somewhat like a sedum. But its fuzzy pastel nature works wonderfully with the natural stone and softens what might otherwise have been an austere garden.