Lamium (LAY-me-um) Common Name:  Dead nettle Light:  - Part shade to full shade Soil:  Average to rich, well-drained Moisture:  Average, drought tolerant Blooms:  Early summer Zones:  3 - 8

Lamium 'Anne Greenaway' Lamium 'White Nancy'

Lamium Description and Cultural Information

Lamium maculatum, spotted dead nettle. 6 - 12". Lamium is a creeping groundcover with triangular, silver-mottled green leaves and rose pink flowers in the spring and summer. 'Beacon Silver' is a popular variety with silver bleached leaves and dark pink flowers. 'White Nancy' and 'Pink Pewter' are similar but with white and pink flowers respectively. 'Shell Pink' has more green in the leaves with pink flowers. 'Red Nancy' is a misnomer with reddish purple flowers. 'Orchid Frost' has silver leaves with a bluish-green margin and profuse blooming, orchid-pink flowers. 'Beedham's White' has yellow to chartreuse leaves with a white stripe down the center of each petal and white flowers. 'Anne Greenaway' is a unique variety which has a blend of dark and light green, chartreuse and silver, with mauve flowers, but unfortunately it has a tendency to self seed to either a large, mostly green leaf plant or a solid yellow leaf plant that burns in the sun. So 'Anne Greenaway' will look fantastic the first season but this particular variety is not very well behaved in the garden.

How to Grow:  Lamium grows fine in any average to rich, well-drained soil in part shade to full shade. Plants will tolerate some sun with occasional moisture and will also grow in dense shade but may not bloom as much. They creep above the ground and root out along the stems plus self-sown seedlings are common. Seedlings or stems are easy to remove if they grow someplace they shouldn't be and it is best to weed out seedlings that have a lot of green in the leaves as these can grow quite large and fairly aggressive in the garden. Slugs can be a problem in damp areas so treatment with slug bait is sometimes recommended.

Landscape uses:  Use lamium in shady spots under trees and shrubs, or in the woodland garden as a groundcover among hostas, ferns, lungworts (Pulmonaria), bulbs and wildflowers.