PLEASE. Put off your first spring mow just a little bit longer. Right now, bees have limited sources of nectar and pollen – and until a few more plants and trees start blooming you can do your part to help your friendly neighborhood pollinators by leaving the Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) alone just a little bit longer. Wouldn’t you rather sit on the porch with a nice cold beer instead of mowing or pulling “weeds” anyways?
Bees do their foraging between 9:30am and 6pm, so if you feel you absolutely must spray this stuff, please do it after dark so they are less likely to visit while the plant is still wet with glyphosate. Even though RoundUp is not directly harmful to bees, it accumulates in the comb, which is like a sponge, and causes long-term damage to brood.
And anyways, despite it’s being listed as an invasive species to NC, purple deadnettle is listed as an edible so why don’t you crunchy organic types put some on your salad and let me know how it tastes?
[ All photos from the front yard – and yes my neighbors think I've gone mental ]
