Stinging Nettles are more often than not classed as weeds and are unwelcome in most UK gardens. Given their particularly less-than-showy flowers and the fact that the plants possess thousands of hairs which can easily puncture human skin and inject histamine and other stinging and irritating chemicals into those unfortunate enough to have merely brushed past its leaves, it is not difficult to understand this popular dislike for Urtica dioica. That said, Nettles do have their uses and their own particular charm and some people, myself amongst them, would be unhappy to see them disappear completely from their garden.
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| Urtica dioica a.k.a. Stinging Nettles |