 cottage garden plants and flowering ground covers. They are very valuable to fill in shady spots, and this is a condition many plants can’t thrive in. The silvery coloring on the foliage makes them a good fit for any landscape design that incorporates a creative color scheme. If you’re after companion plants for it, go for other shade-loving plants. Depending on the landscaping needs, the following could work well:
- Barrenwort (Epimedium)
- Hosta species
- Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis)
Where they touch the soil, the roots on the stems allow dead nettle to spread. Eventually, they’ll form a thick mat, and some plants will naturalize to certain areas. This is fantastic if you need to cover a bare spot with a ground cover, but it’s not great if you’re trying to grow them in a more crowded area where you need a well-behaved plant. So, you need to be very careful about where you plant it and how much time you have to devote to pruning and maintaining it.
Choosing a Location
Dead nettle will tolerate some sunlight, but it does best when you plant it in full to partial shade. In full sun in hot climates, the leaves wither and become scorched and brown. You’ll need an area that drains well for the soil, and the soil should be more on the acidic side to keep the plant happy.
You want to space your plants a foot apart. Even though they seem small, these plants will quickly spread. In mild climates and in moist soil, it can quickly become invasive. You should cut it back in the summer if it is trying to take over your garden. Another option you have is to remove some of the plants every few years. When you take the time to control dead nettle in this manner, it’s a beloved, well-behaved member of your garden.
During the spring months, sprinkle fertilizer on the soil around your dead nettle clumps and allow the rain to help it soak in. Don’t allow the fertilizer to touch the foliage or stems. During the middle of summer, you can dilute a liquid fertilizer on all of the foliage to give the plant a boost. You don’t want to overfeed this plant because this opens the door to disease issues and encourages excessive growth. Adding compost should be enough because dead nettle doesn’t need rich soil. Manure tea is another option if you can’t work the compost into the soil.
Fertilizers can give your plants a boost to encourage strong growth all season long.
Grow dead nettle in partial to full shade. They don’t need a lot of water when you grow them in full shade. In fact, this aspect along with the plant’s deer resistance, makes them a popular choice for anyone needing a low-maintenance landscaping option. They are one of the best shade perennials you can buy.
As a general rule, groundcovers do well with mulch only when you first plant them and before they spread out to cover the soil. Adding a thin layer of chopped leaves, shredded bark, wood chips, or organic material for young plants helps get them off to a strong start. Mulch will discourage the weeds, keep the soil cool and moist, and add nutrients as it decomposes.
Put your dead nettle in well-drained, acidic, and loamy soil to keep it happy and thriving. If you have a clay-based soil, you’ll want to mix compost in to increase the drainage and ward off diseases.
Temperature and Humidity
This plant has a broad humidity and temperature range that it’ll thrive in, but it doesn’t do very well in humid, wamr locations. It prefers cool and moist environments.
When you grow dead nettle in a shaded space, it won’t need a huge amount of water. In fact, natural rainfall can give it all of the water it needs. Since it’s a ground cover, it doesn’t need nearly as much water as grass will, and it makes it a solid choice for anyone who is looking for an addition to the low-maintenance garden.
But, if it hasn’t rained in a long time, you will need to water it. If you plant them in a sunnier location, it’ll need watering once a week to keep the soil moist. More frequent watering sessions are needed to give enough moisture, and it will keep the plant cool during the scorching summer heat. Lower 