Early spring already has its first visitors! 🐝 A buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) foraging on purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) — one of the very first nectar sources of the season. This "weed" is incredibly valuable for early pollinators emerging from hibernation when little else is in bloom.

De vroege lente heeft haar eerste bezoekers al! 🐝 Een aardhommel (Bombus terrestris) op paarsgele dovenetel (Lamium purpureum) — een van de allereerste nectarbronnen van het seizoen. Dit "onkruid" is ontzettend waardevol voor vroege bestuivers die uit hun winterslaap komen, terwijl er nog nauwelijks iets anders bloeit.

#hommel
#bumblebee
#aardhommel
#BombusTerrestris
#dovenetel
#deadnettle
#LamiumPurpureum
#bijen
#bees
#insectenvriendelijk
#pollinatorfriendly
#lente
#spring
#natuur
#nature
#tuin
#garden
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden
Even in the middle of February, the red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) is already blooming in the garden. This low-growing plant is one of the earliest flowering plants of the year, and that makes it incredibly valuable for early pollinators like bumblebees and solitary bees that are just waking up from winter. 🐝
Despite its name, it's not related to the stinging nettle — the leaves may look similar, but there's no sting here. The small tubular purple flowers are perfectly shaped for bumblebees to reach the nectar inside.
Al midden in februari staat de paarse dovenetel (Lamium purpureum) volop te bloeien in de tuin. Deze laagblijvende plant is een van de vroegst bloeiende planten van het jaar, en dat maakt haar ontzettend waardevol voor vroege bestuivers zoals hommels en solitaire bijen die net uit hun winterslaap komen. 🐝
Ondanks de naam is ze niet verwant aan de brandnetel — de bladeren lijken misschien op elkaar, maar prikken doet ze niet. De kleine buisvormige paarse bloempjes zijn perfect op maat van hommels om bij de nectar te geraken.
#dovenetel
#deadnettle
#LamiumPurpureum
#vroegbloeiend
#earlybloom
#bestuivers
#pollinators
#hommels
#bumblebees
#bijen
#bees
#natuur
#nature
#tuin
#garden
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden

White deadnettle in bloom, complete with furry friend.

I've been encouraging white deadnettle in my back yard as an integral part of my agroforestry and permaculture planting scheme.

Bees and other pollinators love it, and I am sure it is doing the soil good too.

#nettle #soil #bees #flowers #garden #agroforestry #permaculture #deadnettle #photography #agroforestry #uk #eastanglia #backyard

Micro Dead Purple Nettle

📷 Canon 70D - Canon EF-S 60mm and Oshiro 2:1 60mm Super Macro - ISO: 200 - Aperture: f/5 - Shutter Speed: 0.3secs & 0.8 secs

Images are a stacked image using Zerene Stacker in Linux

#photo #photography #flower #weed #PurpleDeadNettle #DeadNettle #CanonMacro #Macro #OshiroSuperMacro #CanonMacro #Mirrorless #MILC #CanonR50 #GiMP #FocusStacked #WeMacroFocusRail #ZereneStacker #PCLinuxOS

Making spring mead todayyyy let's go!

Foraged (mostly by my friend, my yard doesn't have many yet) dandelionz and some deadnettle I got from my yard. Padding it out with a lil rose tea.

The fresh dandelion mead I made last year turned out great, so I'm excited for this.
#mead #brewing #alcohol #forraging #dandelion #deadnettle

The #daffodils at #RiverbankStatePark were not affected by last weekends -17F temperatures and high winds. No surprise the #deadnettle is ready to go. That will be flowering soon and is truly wild. One might even say its a weed. What I find particularly interesting is that the catchweed #bedStraw has all disappeared.

#WildFlowerHourNYC

Some very nice deadnettle at O'msted-Beil House. It's.... kind of a weed. But it's pretty.

#Deadnettle #Weeds #Flowering Plants