Deadnettle

L'argile dormante (Lamium maculatum) est une plante vivace qui aime les ombres pour les zones 4 à 9.

Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum) is a shade-loving perennial for zones 4 through 9. Deadnettle grows to a height of about 1 foot, at most, with a much greater spread. It does put out blooms, but it is more often grown for its medium green foliage that is splashed with silvery blotches.

Not only does deadnettle love shade, but once established, it is also drought-tolerant, making it an ideal plant for rock gardens located in a shady spot. Just give it a soil with good drainage and let it go. It can be invasive in some regions. Dead Nettles, Lamium: “Colorful Carpet”

I need to start with some honesty. Dead nettle is one of those plants that almost has everything going for it, until it doesn’t. The promise is that Lamiums are fast-growing perennial ground cover or container plants that brighten partly sunny spots and produce charming flowers. The reality is that this hardy opportunist, if left unchecked, can become unsightly and sometimes invasive.

There are about 50 Lamium species in the mint family. Commonly called dead nettles because their leaves resemble stinging nettles with no ability to sting, this near-evergreen plant (in mild climates) is a low creeper; some cultivars become randomly mounded. As members of the mint family, these plants have square stems, toothy-edged leaves, and a spreading habit (read: they can go crazy). Mainly grown for their two-toned leaves, which can be frosted or marked with splashes, Lamium also sometimes surprise you in late spring or summer with flowers that are relatively small, resembling snapdragons, and in colors ranging from white to pink to purple. Now for the dark side. There is an aggressive variety, Lamium galeobdolon ‘Variegatum’, and if you turn your back it will creep and dominate every unoccupied garden space and be a nightmare to remove. The only way to get rid of it is to diligently dig out its rhizomes. Don’t be fooled by the attractive, silver-streaked leaves and cute yellow flowers. This variety truly lives up to its invasive, mint-family reputation.

And then there’s the other types such as L. maculatum ‘Orchid Frost’, which at first boast stunning silver leaves and sweet two-lipped flowers. But then brutish slugs and snails can infiltrate and turn your plant into a mass of riddled holes or worse, a pile of mush. Prepare for the inevitable invasion by applying a pet- and wildlife-safe bait such as Sluggo ($12.16 for 2 1/2 pounds of pellets from Amazon).

Another thing to know is that although most fair best in moist conditions, dead nettles also will grow in dry shade. They do not, however, thrive in poorly drained or compacted soil and many types suffer from wintry wet soils with crown or stem rot. On the other end of the weather spectrum, in hot climates the leaves may get brown and crispy; this is when you can happily cut back the plant to stimulate new fresh growth.