Purple Dead-Nettle
In Dutch it is called ‘Paarse dovenetel’, which suggests that the English ‘dead-nettle’ is a misunderstood Dutch ‘dode netel’, which is a netel that would not be alive, so maybe ‘purple archangel’ is the better English word for this plant (or Lamium purpureum as Linnaeus would have it).
It grows all year round and even makes flowers in mild winters such as ours these weeks, see photo. From next month March on, these flowers become an important source of proteins for the bees, while they are making their nests. It is always a special day, when you see the first bee of the year. The poor bees in our region are working hard on their comeback after the dark neonicotinoid-years that were almost fatal for their species, due to navigation problems caused by intoxication. Together with the maize and the sunflowers, the purple archangel helps them with their come-back. A bee that visited the flowers of this herb will have its red pollen in its hair and in this way you can see that the bee was there. So these little herbs are a blessing for the bees and therefore also for us, humans.
Purple Dead-Nettle
In Dutch it is called ‘Paarse dovenetel’, which suggests that the English ‘dead-nettle’ is a misunderstood Dutch ‘dode netel’, which is a netel that would not be alive, so maybe ‘purple archangel’ is the better English word for this plant (or Lamium purpureum as Linnaeus would have it).
It grows all year round and even makes flowers in mild winters such as ours these weeks, see photo. From next month March on, these flowers become an important source of proteins for the bees, while they are making their nests. It is always a special day, when you see the first bee of the year. The poor bees in our region are working hard on their comeback after the dark neonicotinoid-years that were almost fatal for their species, due to navigation problems caused by intoxication. Together with the maize and the sunflowers, the purple archangel helps them with their come-back. A bee that visited the flowers of this herb will have its red pollen in its hair and in this way you can see that the bee was there. So these little herbs are a blessing for the bees and therefore also for us, humans.