I'm officially about to enter the Frankenstein stage of gardening.

My wee nettle child has performed like a champion. That’s 8g of seed, probably somewhere between 200-300 seeds. Two years ago, this plant was a single less-than-thriving volunteer beside the coal bunkers; I managed to get 6 seeds from it. This year, I got one successful seedling from those seeds. That single plant was the source of all these seeds, most of which I harvested by hand with a very dainty pair of tweezers.

Next year, though -- next year via these seeds there will be an impenetrable forest of large-flowered hemp nettle thriving somewhere on this property. At that point, I think (read: hope) I can leave it alone to thrill the bees and maintain itself.

This is my large-flowered hemp nettle (Galeopsis speciosa) seedling, sporting some very symmetrical dewdrops this morning. A single plant appeared as a volunteer in the garden last year, and just three of the seeds I collected managed to sprout. Only one has made it to this stage. Commercial seed is difficult to come by, so I really hope this fellow makes it. If the universe is willing, in a few months he will look like this:

I think these are the prettiest of the wild nettles, but of course they’re also the rarest. The yard is teeeming with red and white dead nettles, as well as a few common hemp nettles (which are similar to this type, but w/less-fancy flowers). Unfortunately there are also some pockets of stinging nettle lurking about, but much less than there was at this time last year.

I’d really like to see more of these fancy ones, so let’s cross our fingers for this wee person to grow up strong & make a bunch more seed for me.