Ornamental · Lamiaceae
Spotted Dead Nettle
Lamium maculatum
Tuck it into cool, dry shade where nothing else will settle, and the silver leaves carry the floor through every season.
Partial shade
Every 5–10 days
USDA 3–8
6–9 in · 15–23 cm
Overview
Spotted dead nettle is a low, traveling groundcover made for the shade, prized as much for its silver-marked leaves as for the pink, mauve, or white flowers that lift above them in late spring. A member of the mint family, it shares that family's habit of knitting quickly into a mat. The name tends to mislead, since the look of a stinging nettle comes without a trace of the sting.
Few plants make a difficult corner feel this composed. Standing 6 to 9 inches (15 to 23 cm) tall, it weaves into a dense sheet that fills the ground beneath shrubs and along the dim north face of a house where lawn simply quits. Each stem roots as it wanders, so a handful of starts soon reads as one unbroken run of foliage.
It wants cool, moist, shaded ground, and in return it gives back months of color for next to no work. Press it into a hot, dry, sunny site and the leaves will scorch and thin. Offer the shade it prefers and the only task left is keeping its keen spread within the bed you planned for it.
Care
The short version: part to full shade, cool soil kept evenly moist over good drainage, one shearing once the flowers fade, and a clean edge to hold the spreading mat to its place.
Light
Give it part to full shade. It accepts a little morning or dappled sun, yet a hot, bright spot scorches and thins the leaves, which makes the deeper shade where lawn struggles the very place this plant comes into its own.
Water
Hold the soil cool and evenly moist, watering roughly every 5 to 10 days and more often through a dry stretch. Once settled it copes with dry shade, but the leaves brown and thin if it bakes, so never let it run bone dry in the heat.
Soil
Set it in humusy, well-drained loam rich with organic matter and a pH anywhere from 6.0 to 7.5. The single thing it will not pardon is wet or compacted ground, which opens the way to crown rot.
Temperature
It is uncommonly hardy, weathering anything from -40°F to 84°F (-40°C to 29°C). Cold poses no concern, though a long run of summer heat and humidity can melt the mat out in patches.
Humidity
Everyday outdoor air suits it, so there is no target to chase. Air movement counts for more, since still, muggy air around crowded leaves is what summons leaf spot and blight.
Feeding
A modest feeder that seldom asks for anything. One serving of balanced general-purpose fertilizer in spring covers it, and a heavier hand only forces soft, floppy growth.
Pruning
Shear or cut the plants back hard after they bloom. That single pass clears tired leaves, fills any thin patches, and often draws out a second wave of flowers.
Repotting
It seldom calls for repotting, but a potted plant signals its moment when the center goes bare and dead or the roots crowd the pot and dry out fast. Divide it then and settle it into fresh soil.
Size & spacing
Each plant stays low at 6 to 9 inches (15 to 23 cm) tall yet reaches 12 to 24 inches (30 to 61 cm) across, so space them generously enough to weave into a carpet without crowding.
When to plant
Spotted dead nettle is a tough perennial that returns year after year from zone 3 right up to zone 8. Set it out in spring as soon as the ground works, watch for flowers from late spring into summer, and shear it back afterward to refresh the leaves for the season ahead.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: spring
- Harvest: Late spring into summer
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–8
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Almost every grievance with dead nettle traces to the wrong spot or too much damp. Browning leaves usually point to heat and dryness, while holes and spots signal slugs or wet-weather fungus. Find what matches below and correct the setting before turning to anything stronger.
A scorched, patchy carpet losing its polish
What you are seeing is leaf scorch, the look a planting takes on when its corner of the garden runs too hot, too dry, or too bright for something that wants the comfort of cool, moist shade. A humid stretch of summer can also bring on melt-out, where whole runs of a mass planting fade and thin. Shear the planting back hard to call up a fresh layer, keep the soil evenly moist, and move anything stranded in a sun-baked spot into kinder light.
Fix:
- Cut or shear plants back to stimulate fresh new foliage growth
- Increase watering to keep soil evenly moist
- Relocate or shade plants sited in hot, dry, sunny areas
Easily mistaken for invasive yellow archangel
A common mix-up sends people toward yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon), a cousin that genuinely is invasive and carries that listing in the western US. Read the flowers and the habit to keep them straight: yellow archangel wears yellow blooms and runs outward on rooting stems, while spotted dead nettle settles for pink, mauve, or white flowers and stays well-mannered. Choose Lamium maculatum cultivars for the bed, and pull any yellow archangel the moment it appears.
Fix:
- Identify and remove yellow archangel where present
- Choose Lamium maculatum cultivars rather than L. galeobdolon
A carpet that drifts past its borders
Dead nettle widens itself through sprawling stems that root wherever they meet soil, so the planting quietly grows past the lines you drew for it. The good news for a tidy bed: it has energy, yet it answers to a light hand and is no true thug. Lift or trim back the stems that stray over the edge, drop in some edging to hold a clean line, and divide a stand once it has outgrown its place.
Fix:
- Pull or cut back encroaching stems at bed edges
- Install edging to contain the planting
- Divide and thin overgrown stands
Nibbled, spotted leaves in a damp, shady bed
Most of the wear traces back to slugs, which graze ragged holes in the tender leaves anywhere the shade holds onto moisture. That same close, humid air opens the door to leaf spot and leaf blight, with aphids wandering in from time to time. Put out slug traps or bait, pull away any spotted or blighted leaves, and thin the planting so air can travel through and the foliage dries sooner.
Fix:
- Control slugs with traps or baits
- Remove and dispose of spotted or blighted foliage
- Improve air circulation and avoid overhead watering
Toxicity
Reassuring news for homes with animals: spotted dead nettle is not toxic. It appears on none of the ASPCA's poison lists, and the name aside, it carries no stinging hairs, so people and pets share its company safely. A curious cat or dog working through a big mouthful of leaves faces nothing worse than a fleeting upset stomach.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
An easy companion for a household cat. Should one work through a generous mouthful of leaves, expect a brief unsettled stomach at most and nothing beyond it.
Dogs None
Nothing here threatens a dog. A determined chewer that helps itself to a large serving of foliage might face only a touch of passing stomach upset.
Horses Safe
Harmless to horses, with no cases of poisoning tied to grazing on it.
Rabbits Safe
The soft leaves make a safe nibble for rabbits, so long as the planting does not edge out their hay and greens.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep graze it without trouble, since it holds none of the toxins that unsettle pasture animals.
Birds Safe
No threat to birds whatsoever. Backyard hens and passing wild visitors can pick at the leaves with nothing to fear.
People Safe
Safe to have around people, and the young leaves are edible besides. The name notwithstanding, there are no stinging hairs, so working with it bare-handed is fine.
Despite the name it is a dead nettle with soft, non-stinging foliage and no stinging hairs, so handling is safe; pets nibbling foliage may have mild GI upset.
Varieties
Most named dead nettles earn their place on silver foliage and part company mainly over flower color. These are the ones you will meet most often, with one look-alike to keep well clear of.
White Nancy
A luminous pick for the darkest shade, lifting the ground with silvery-white leaves edged in green beneath crisp white flowers.
Beacon Silver
Pink flowers float over wide silver leaves that brighten the gloom of a shadowed corner.
Pink Pewter
Brings the same silver leaves together with quieter, paler pink blooms.
Purple Dragon
The most dramatic of the group, lifting large purple flowers over silver-marked leaves.
Orchid Frost
Warm orchid-pink flowers play against cool, frosted silver leaves.
Yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)
Pass this one by, since it is a separate, genuinely invasive Lamium relative with yellow flowers and aggressive rooting runners that is listed invasive in the western US, not a true spotted dead nettle cultivar.
How to propagate
Raising more dead nettle asks almost nothing of you, since the plant is already spreading and striking root by itself as it grows.
DivisionEasy
Spring · 4-8 weeks
Division is the simple, dependable route to more plants, and spring is the time to do it. Lift a settled mat, separate it into clumps by hand or knife, and tuck them in wherever you want fresh cover; they take hold in roughly 4 to 8 weeks. Half the work is already done for you, since the sprawling stems strike root on their own at any node resting on soil.
Myths
The name promises a sting, so dead nettle must sting like a nettle.
The leaves echo a true stinging nettle closely enough to explain the name, and the resemblance goes no further than looks. Spotted dead nettle is a mint-family plant with soft leaves and no stinging hairs at all, and it is not even a relative of true stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). Handle it bare-handed and think nothing of it.