Montrose White Calamint

Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta ‘Montrose White’

Description & Overview

Montrose White Calamint is a very long-blooming perennial flower that is loaded with small white flowers from summer through fall. It’s favorite of many of our staff members for its extremely long bloom period, its resistance to animal browsing, its gossamer beauty and its unparalleled appeal to beneficial pollinators. You will have a hard time finding another plant that attracts as many pollinators as Montrose White. Expect yours to be loaded with bees from summer through fall. Montrose White also has fragrant, mint scented foliage.

Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta has been awarded the prestigious title of Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association for 2021. We proudly offer an outstanding clonal selection of Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta that we named ‘Montrose White’ (see Leaf Lore below).

** 2021 Plant of the Year **

Core Characteristics

Suggested Uses:

While each flower is very small, they are borne in profusion over a long period of time. This – combined with its attractive, cloud-like habit – make it especially well-suited to several garden applications. It makes an excellent repeating element in the perennial border owing to its neutral flower color, tidy form, and airy texture. It is also especially effective as a border for a formal garden. Lining a walkway, it will soften the hard edge while providing bloom from July through October.

Salable size #1 Container. Expect height variations on plants in our yard based on crop age. We grow several crops each season.

Grown locally in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin

Salable size #1 Container next to mature Montrose White

Wildlife Value:

Montrose White Calamint is an incomparable plant for attracting pollinators to the garden. The tiny white flowers attract beneficial insects – honeybees in particular – by the hundreds. When in bloom this plant will seem alive with happy, busy bees. The bees are so intent on their work while visiting these flowers that they won’t be distracted by the nearby activity of people. We often demonstrate “petting” the bees, waving our hands through the flowers without fearing a sting (note: we don’t recommend trying this at home)!

See them up-close in our video on Native Pollinators. Or check out our article on Fall Blooming Plants & Pollinators.

Maintenance Tips:

This plant should be cut to the ground prior to new growth beginning in the spring.

Montrose White is long-blooming, into fall.

Pests/Problems:

Calamintha ‘Montrose White’ is a very healthy and pest-resistant plant. Its fragrant, mint scented foliage is unappealing to deer and rabbits.

It is drought tolerant, once established. Avoid wet winter soils.

Leaf Lore:

Some may refer to Montrose White as a “catmint”. It’s technically a subspecies of catmint. Catmint is synonymous with Nepeta genus. Calamint in Calamintha genus. But they are closely related.

Back in 1999 our Johnson’s Nursery head propagator, Mike Yanny, became aware of this outstanding perennial. His wife, Lori, had purchased it from Nancy Goodwin at Montrose Nursery. Mike, although especially interested in woody plants, recognized that this perennial plant was exceptional. Mike made a phone call to Nancy and told her that he thought her Calamintha was one of the best perennials he had ever seen and went so far as to say that he thought it should be Perennial Plant of the Year*. Nancy gave Mike approval to add the cultivar name ‘Montrose White’ to clarify its clonal identity. (The plant is not patented or trademarked). We are proud to have this outstanding plant associated with our Nursery.

Companion Plants:

Calamintha ‘Montrose White’ combines exceptionally well with:

• Summer blooming Ornamental Onions (Allium) such as ‘Summer Peek-a-Boo’, ‘Milennium’, and ‘Summer Beauty’
• Purple Coneflower (Echinacea), especially lower growing varieties that mature at 24″ or less
• Prairie Dropseed Grass (Sporobolus heterolepis and S. het. ‘Tara’)

MONTROSE WHITE CALAMINT BENCHCARD