Nepeta is one of our favorite perennials because it just blooms, and blooms, and blooms. But in order to get that bloom to extend through the entire season, you’re going to have to prune it back. You want to do that as soon as the flowers go by.

When your nepeta starts going out of bloom, you’ll notice the ends get brown. If you cut back into the base of the plant, you’ll encourage the plant to bloom again. Unsure of how far back to cut? Take it all the way back to the next branch union.

You can go the extra mile and cut back every single dead bloom, or just go through on a weekly basis and snip back those that are easy to get to. That will still be enough to keep the plant producing new blooms.