Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Today's Edible Weed: Purple Deadnettle


It has small purple flowers, mint like leaves and square stalks. This one is lamium purpureum. There is also lamium amplexicaule (henbit) which is similar but you can easily distinguish them by the different appearance of their leaves. Both are edible and are also a favorite of honeybees. Since my bees will be arriving shortly I plan on allowing this particular weed to remain in the garden. I will move it over to where the hive will be located. I did toss some into the chicken pen and they weren't overly excited about it. I think it will be best left for the bees. If it gets out of hand I'll make salad.

No comments: