Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Garden Catmint (Nepeta × faassenii)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called Garden Catmint, Blue Catmint, Faassen's Catnip.

More about garden catmint

About Garden Catmint

Nepeta × faassenii · also called Garden Catmint, Blue Catmint · herb

Garden Catmint is a mounding, aromatic perennial prized for its lavender-blue flower spikes and silver-green foliage. A sterile hybrid, it blooms prolifically from late spring to autumn if cut back after the first flush. Drought-tolerant and deer-resistant, it thrives at border edges in full sun.

Cold limit: USDA 4–8 · RHS H7 (-20–30°C)

What garden catmint's hardiness rating actually means

Yes — garden catmint is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 4–8, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. Its RHS rating of H7 means: Hardy in the severest European continental winters. On the US scale that maps to USDA 4–8 — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Garden Catmint is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

Concretely, for garden catmint as it gets too cold:

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established.
Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root.
First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.

Can garden catmint go outside or overwinter — and where?

Plant it out within USDA 4–8 and it overwinters with little or no help.
It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy.
The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when garden catmint can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H7 figure above.

Garden Catmint hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is garden catmint cold hardy?

Yes — garden catmint is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 4–8, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. An outdoor plant. Garden Catmint is hardy across USDA 4–8; it belongs in the ground or a frost-proof container, not on a windowsill, and many types actively need a cold winter to perform.

What is the minimum temperature garden catmint can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Garden Catmint is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

What hardiness zone is garden catmint?

Garden Catmint is rated USDA 4–8 and RHS H7 — Hardy in the severest European continental winters.

Can garden catmint survive winter outside?

Plant it out within USDA 4–8 and it overwinters with little or no help. It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy. The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

What happens to garden catmint below its minimum temperature?

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established. Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root. First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.