Spotted dead nettle
Lamium maculatum · Lamiaceae
Silver leaves with a thin green edge make a bright carpet in shade, with pink, white or purple hooded flowers from spring into summer.
- Size
- 8 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Part sun to shade
- Flowers
- Early May to mid July
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around spotted dead nettle
The planner designed this bed around spotted dead nettle when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, part shade. It chose the other plants from the 513 that suit those conditions, and says below why spotted dead nettle stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Spotted dead nettle × 6, pink
- 2 White barrenwort 'Niveum' × 11, white
- 3 Turtlehead 'Hot Lips' × 3, pink
- 4 Monkshood × 3, blue
- 5 Inkberry 'Gem Box' × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Gray's sedge × 3, green
- 7 Yellow trout lily × 12, yellow
- 8 Fawn lily 'White Beauty' × 10, white
Why this plant
- The only dense clusters. The others are airy sprays, spires, globes and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 8 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 77% of the edge.
- 6 plants in 2 runs (3 and 3). Short runs, with other plants between, make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
Why now
- In flower for 10 weeks. From early May to mid July.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 8 of the 8 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The scheme leans cool (pink and blue) and uses yellow for warmth, with white and green to calm things between them. Gray's sedge stands beside turtlehead 'Hot Lips', a proven pairing.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 Good.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where spotted dead nettle goes in a border
At 8 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
Silver in the shade is valuable, and this spreads it widely. It roots as it goes but pulls up easily. Shear it in midsummer if it gets leggy.
- Silver groundcover for shade
- Under shrubs
- Lighting up dark corners
What to plant with spotted dead nettle
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Hosta: its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; bold leaves against its medium ones; spires rising out of its mound.
- Lenten rose: bold leaves against its medium ones; tall enough (18 in) to stand behind it.
- Christmas fern: its dark green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; tall enough (20 in) to stand behind it.
Questions about spotted dead nettle
Does spotted dead nettle need sun or shade?
Spotted dead nettle grows in part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun), part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning) and shade (less than 2 hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does spotted dead nettle grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does spotted dead nettle flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers early May to mid July. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 3 | Late May to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Mid May to mid July |
| Zone 5 | Early May to mid July |
| Zone 6 | Early May to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Late April to early July |
| Zone 8 | Mid April to early July |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should spotted dead nettle be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 8 in (20 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many spotted dead nettle plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used six in two groups.
Is spotted dead nettle poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat spotted dead nettle?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
Will spotted dead nettle spread?
It spreads sideways, by runners or roots; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Spreads steadily by creeping stems. It is easy to pull out, but needs a firm edge.
What flowers after spotted dead nettle?
Spotted dead nettle is over by mid July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Bee balm: from early July to early August, 3 ft tall.
What does spotted dead nettle look like in winter?
Spotted dead nettle holds some of its leaves into winter, more in a mild year or a sheltered spot, and they look tired by March. Cut the old ones off as new growth starts.
More Lamium
- Spotted dead nettle 'Beacon Silver' Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver'
- Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy' Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy'
- Yellow archangel 'Hermann's Pride' Lamium galeobdolon 'Hermann's Pride'
In these guides
- Plants for dry shade
- Deer-resistant plants for shade
- Pet-safe plants for shade
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Plants for a white garden
- Silver and grey-leaved plants
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 8 in (20 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Early May to mid July; dense clusters; pink, white, purple
- Leaves
- Medium texture, semi-evergreen; silver
- Shape
- Mat-forming, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Part sun, part shade, shade
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Comes from
- Europe and North Africa to West Asia
- Stands up to
- Deer, drought
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.