Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Common Hemp-Nettle

Once again I am sharing a Wednesday weed/wild flower (you decide!) from my garden and meadow.

Recently I have been noticing a pretty pale pink flower in the meadow that reminds me of nettle flowers. When I looked it up I found it is in fact in the nettle family (Lamiceae): Galeopsis tetrahit, Common Hemp-Nettle.

I have never noticed this flower before and have since found it in our hedges too – with a little shade the flowers are a deeper purply pink and the leaves not quite as pale.

Then I realized that this is the weed that I have seen in my Butterfly Bed for the last couple of years underneath an obelisk where the sparrows like to sit and mice and hares pass through. I have probably weeded it out before it flowers in the past, but this year I overlooked it and it is flowering in my flower bed!

Galeopsis tetrahit is a hairy plant, growing to about 70 cm tall in places. The flowers are like salvia, or snapdragons, and have beautiful markings on the petals to guide the bumblebees in.

Hemp-nettle is certainly very pretty. And the fact that it has turned up in my flower bed doesn¡t make me think of it as a weed, rather a wild flower. Apparently it likes rough ground and the seeds are spread by sticking to animal fur. I was unable to find them in my English wild flowers book, but here my books say they are common.

I wonder if this European native grows in your part of the world. Have you seen it or anything similar?

Do join me in sharing your weeds on a Wednesday. I am curious to see what grows in other countries.

Thanks for visiting

and

Happy Weeding!