Monday, March 5, 2012

On Deadnettle


What to do with the Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) one of the major blooming weeds en masse right now down at my community garden and by the roadside? Weed it out? Take it home to eat? Leave it for the bees and any other pollinators who might be hanging around in these cool temperatures? I lean towards the latter, removing it only where it's crowding my garlic or other bulbs. Throwing it in my compost later, most likely after is has seeded, probably isn't the best policy for trying to control a weed. But I like the look of this one, a low mass of purple in late winter/early spring and I'm pretty sure that like a lot of plants in its family (Lamiaceae), other herbs I grow in the garden, that it is a draw for pollinators. Right now most of the blooming things (there are a few others, yesterday chickweed, henbit and speedwell) in some places, like my vegetable garden and grassy patches by the side of the road, are weeds.

3 comments:

sarah said...

wait, you have blooming things?! you're not THAT far south, are you? nuthin' up here yet...that I'm aware of, anyway.

Marie said...

Did you say eat?

That is a nice photo...

Sweetgum Thursday said...

Hey Sarah...yup. Blooming this weekend. We're probably a few zones warmer than you due to both location and urban heat island effect. I think the deadnettle is a winter annual.

Marie..thanks. Pretty sure it's edible or perhaps can be used for tea too. I think Ava Chin may have done a post on it at NYtimes last year. I've ever tasted it though. Maybe you can do the taste test?