Botanical name: Betonica officinalis‍ ‍
Folk names: Common hedgenettle, bishop’s wort

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Late summer nectar and pollen for bees and other insects. Flowers are favoured by the wool carder bee.

Flowers: June to August

Decorative merit: Compact spikes of orchid-like magenta purple flowers on sturdy, square stems emerging from rosettes. Similar in appearance and spread to self-heal.

Where: Sun or part shade. Front of border or as part of a mini meadow or try on a gravel patch. Good for damp, acidic soils but will tolerate neutral to mildly alkaline soil.

Folklore: Planted in country church yards for its medicinal value and to ward off ghosts and goblins, and in monastery gardens for its medicinal properties (also valued by the ancient Greeks and Romans).

Mint family relative of white and red deadnettles.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank