Catnip Seeds

Catnip Seeds for Planting: A Hardy Perennial for Cats and Pollinators

Catnip is an easygoing perennial herb with soft, gray-green leaves, a minty scent, and spikes of white and lavender flowers that bees and butterflies love. It's also the plant that turns many cats into playful, rolling, purring fans, which makes a patch of fresh catnip a favorite gift for pets. Our collection of catnip seeds is an inexpensive way to grow an endless supply, and one packet gives you plenty of plants for beds, borders, and containers. Once it's established, catnip comes back every year with very little care.

Catnip Seeds for Sale: Easy Herb for Gardens and Cat Lovers

When you browse catnip seeds for sale, you're choosing a tough, adaptable plant that grows two to three feet tall and wide, thrives in average soil, and handles dry spells well once it has settled in. Plants bloom from late spring into summer, and shearing them back after the first flush often brings a second round of flowers and fresh leaves. Catnip belongs to the mint family, so it grows vigorously, and it does well in sunny borders, herb beds, and large pots. Fresh sprigs can be given straight to your cat, or dried and stuffed into homemade toys.

The flowers are loved by bees and other pollinators, and the plant fills in quickly, so it works as a low-maintenance edging along paths or the front of a perennial bed.

Catnip from Seed: Give It a Cold Snap and Some Light

Growing catnip from seed is easy, but the seeds sprout best with a little preparation. The seed coat is tough, so many gardeners chill the seeds in the refrigerator for a week or two before planting catnip seeds, or simply sow them outdoors in fall or very early spring and let winter do the work. Press seeds onto the surface of moist soil and cover them only lightly, because they need light to sprout, then keep the soil damp. Expect sprouts in one to three weeks, sometimes longer. To get a head start, sow indoors about six to eight weeks before your last frost and transplant seedlings outdoors once the weather settles, spacing plants about 18 inches apart in full sun to part shade. The Seedtime planting calendar works out your sowing dates from your frost dates, and the layout planner helps you find a spot where a spreading perennial won't crowd its neighbors.

Buy Catnip Seeds with One Flat Shipping Rate

When you buy catnip seeds here, you can combine packets from different suppliers in one order and pay one flat shipping rate rather than a separate shipping charge for each supplier. Seedtime members also get discounts on seed packets, so if you're planning a full herb and pollinator garden, compare Seedtime's plans to see what membership includes.