Common Name : Lamium (Dead Nettle)

Latin Name : Lamium

Description : Lamium is a dependable and attractive groundcover which grows well in shade or part shade. It grows where nothing else will, particularly in the usually sterile ground beneath large evergreens. Hardy groundcovers which grow in shade are rare in our area, making lamium of great value.

Common Lamium, more properly known as lamiastrum, is the most vigorous of the varieties. It will spread to fill an entire area, but can be easily kept in check at the edge of that area with a mower. Lamium do not spread in the pernicious manner of Snow on the Mountain. In June, they send up lavender blooms. They are so hardy that the leaves often keep their green over winter, and it can appear as if they start in the spring where they left off in the fall.

The many named varieties of lamium are all less vigorous than the common, but still useful. The white-leaved lamium can be used in the sun if kept moist, and works to provide a color contrast in perennial beds, or even in annual planters. Some bloom white, some bloom pink.

Lamium is called dead nettle because, although it comes from the same family as burning grass, it does not burn.