Planting, tending, pruning and more

Plant nettle correctly

Pay attention to the following process of planting, one fulfills gold nettle all expectations of an ornamental and useful plant. With a simple gardening trick, you can regulate the spirited urge to spread in the desired lanes. Here's how to do it:

• Make planting holes at a distance of 40-50 cm in a semi-shady, shady location in humus-moist soil
• Mix the sifted compost and horn shavings into the excavation
• Line the edge of each planting pit with a root barrier from geotextile
• Unpot the water-soaked root ball, plant in the middle and water

Alternatively, you can keep the growth of the vital foothills under control by planting the individual young plants together with a bucket without a bottom.

care tips

A golden nettle shows its industrious vigour, without much intervention by the gardener. The manageable care program revolves around the following aspects:

• Keep the soil and pot substrate constantly moist
• Fertilize every 4 weeks from March to September
• If necessary, cut off the withered whorls of flowers in autumn
• Cut back the evergreen foliage close to the ground in early spring

The golden nettle only requires winter protection in pots and flower boxes. To prevent the root ball from freezing, wrap the container in insulating material and place it on polystyrene or wood. It is important to ensure a continuous water supply, as the evergreen leaves constantly evaporate water.

Which location is suitable?

As an ornamental plant, the golden nettle is at your side when it comes to decoratively greening problematic locations. In semi-shady to shady locations in the semi-natural garden, in the cottage garden and under trees, the perennial provides pretty splashes of yellow colour. In addition, the flower likes fresh, moist to sandy-loamy soil, rich in nutrients and profoundly humic.

What soil does the plant need?

In the wild, the golden nettle is often used as a pioneer plant to conquer previously ungreened areas. This trait implies that the perennial does well in regular garden soil as long as the soil is not desert dry. Likewise, it gives itself as a container plant with common potting soil fully satisfied on a compost basis.

When is flowering time?

The delicate yellow to golden yellow labial flowers flourish from May until well into July. If you take a closer look at a flower, the delicate, three-lobed lower lip is reddish. While pure wild species have 5-8 flowers per whorl, the hybrids boast 8-16 flowers.
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Cut golden nettle correctly

Since the evergreen, decoratively sawn foliage fills the otherwise empty garden with green life, creative gardeners leave the golden nettle undisturbed until February. At that point at the latest, the plant will pull in its leaves anyway, so that a pruning now creates space for the fresh shoots. If self-sowing is not desired, cut off the withered whorls of flowers before the seeds ripen in autumn.

Pour gold nettle

The native perennial is satisfied with the water supply with the average amount of rain. The watering can is only used in the event of prolonged drought. In pot culture, on the other hand, the substrate dries out quickly in summer, so that there is a regular need for water.

Fertilize golden nettle properly

The gardener moves with one wheelbarrow Full of compost doing its rounds through the garden, the golden nettle is happy about a portion. The golden-yellow one is popular deadnettle thoughtfully with a sip of nettle manure during the growing season. In the limited substrate volume of the bucket, the nutrient reserves are within 6-8 weeks after Planting consumed, so that a liquid fertilizer fills in the gaps every 4 weeks until the beginning of autumn.

hibernate

The golden nettle wears its foliage throughout the winter, because the perennial is completely hardy. Only from January/February do the worn-out leaves gradually withdraw, so that cutting them back close to the ground now makes sense. Horticultural support for healthy overwintering is therefore only required in the planter, due to the exposed position of the root ball behind the thin container walls. Wrap the pot or flower box in bubble wrap, garden fleece or jute and place the vessel on wood or styrofoam. As leaves continue to evaporate moisture, water during winter drought on mild days.

multiply golden nettle

The high-spirited urge to spread of a golden nettle gives hobby gardeners several variants of targeted propagation. Common methods are:

• Cut off root suckers to root them in the pot in lean substrate
• Division of the rootstock in early spring or autumn
• cut cuttings grow into adult plants during flowering and in nursery pots

Compared to these 3 methods, the sowing by Goldnessel as more demanding and time-consuming. Since the seeds are cold germs, a cold stimulus is required to break the germination inhibition. After 2-4 weeks at 18-22 degrees Celsius, 4-6 weeks at - 4 to + 4 degrees Celsius follow, followed by 2 weeks at 5-12 degrees. Only then does the classic sowing procedure begin.

Is golden nettle poisonous?

The golden nettle is packed with valuable ingredients. Essential oils, vitamins, minerals and numerous trace elements allow the wild perennial to mature into a nutritious food and medicinal plant. Even the dreaded stinging hairs of the closely related stinging nettle are missing from a golden nettle. This dead nettle species does not pose any danger to humans or animals.

How can I use the golden nettle?

The golden nettle has a wealth of beneficial attributes that clever gardeners know how to take advantage of. We have compiled interesting possible uses for you here:

• As a rustic ornamental plant with wild perennial character
• Spreads an intoxicating aroma in the fragrance garden
• Popular bee and butterfly pasture
• Honey-filled flowers as a delicious snack for children
• Prepared as a tea with healing powers for diseases of the bladder and kidneys

The leaves have the highest content of valuable ingredients just before flowering. At this time the flavor is particularly delicate, while after the flowering period it takes on a bitter aroma.
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Beautiful varieties

• Florentium: The golden-yellow flowers over silvery foliage create a picturesque look
• Hermann's Pride: Small in growth, powerful in the greening of shady locations; a vigorous ground cover
• Silver carpet: The slow-growing golden nettle likes to be used as a ground cover in poorly lit beds
• Pale yellow gold nettle: The light yellow flowers are slightly red marked; Growth height up to 60 cm without runners
• Mountain gold nettle: Robust, very vigorous species that can be found in the Alps up to 1,500 m