little patch in our back yard is spreading a bit and new patches are cropping up in various spots in our yard.

We live in a mature Maple/Basswood forest on the south shore of Lake Minnetonka. The weed is widely distributed in our neighborhood, making up a large portion of the understory. Vigorous grower, and painful stings! The kids know it as itch weed, it raises small bmps that itch terribly.

I have this all over my yard in various places. It seems to love to grow up under the Hosta. Swamp land in the front yard. Oddly, it doesn't bother me as far as a reaction, which I guess is good being I pull so much of it through out the year.

I have this growing all over. Is there anything good about Stinging Nettle? Or maybe it protects other plants from grazing herbivores?

While there may be some human uses for stinging nettle and it's a major butterfly host plant in its native Europe, it has little wildlife value here. It's a weed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle There are MANY thing you could do with this plant, I wish I had them in my backyard.. they seem interesting as heck.

kc, feel free to harvest them from any "natural area" infestation (as it's an "unnatural" plant). Just don't tell anyone I told you to do it. ;)

I found this growing at Dennis Frandsen Park in Braham MN. Medical properties of this plant include pectoral, diuretic, astringent, tonic, styptic, rubefacient. This herb is used for kidney troubles. It will expel gravel from the bladder and increase urine flow. Splendid for neuralgia. The tea increases menstrual flow. For diarrhea, dysentery, piles, hemorrhages, hemorrhoids, gravel, and inflammation of the kidneys.

Well, now, after a bit more research it seems that stinging nettle is a native species after all. The DNR lists it as "introduced" on their big list-o-plants but that must be a typo. All other references say it's native.

It's good to eat, too! Just have to cook it first to neutralize the stinging quality of it. And since it's pretty easy to identify (at least in MN) that helps the likelihood of misidentification pretty minimal, since it stings you and all.

Plants in the nettle family are host plants for the caterpillars of the Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta), which is why we tolerate stinging nettles in our backyard.

We have these in our backyard. They seem to like shade-under the lilac hedges, pine trees, and hosta. My husband and I both react pretty strongly-I get a bumpy rash that lasts 2-3 days!

I, too, let these grow wild in my butterfly garden, since they are host plants for the Red Admiral as mentioned above. I think they are an attractive plant. They do sting a little, though.

Got plenty of stinging nettle here in Rosemount. I ripe it out, chop it down, spray it with unearthly chemicals and it still comes back. Same with poison sumac and whatever else is bothersome. Sure it may be beneficial but you won't find me eating that crap. Just happy that whatever irritates my skin its kryptonite is usually not to far from the plant/weed that caused it.

I just discovered my first patch (as I do every year). It is growing around my lilac bushes. I live on the edge of woods and near a pond. I used to rip it out, but since I have learned that the Red Admiral Butterfly lay their eggs on it, I am keeping it around. The butterflies and bees need all the help they can get.

I get a strong skin irritation from nettle, but can aleiviate the sting with a poultice of plantain leaves, which are plentiful in my lawn : )

On our property in Northern Wisconsin we have a plant that... by all accounts, is nettle. All features are as described here, and I'm familiar enough with the plant to know it when I see it. However, this is much taller than the nettle I've interacted with (nearly 5')... with woodier stems and little to no sting in the taller plants. The young growth does sting some once it reaches 3" or more... the seedlings have plenty of hairs but don't sting at all. Anyone have any experience to share?

Grabbed it and pullled and got immediate sting. Still hurts after 4 hours with skin feels like surface is paralyzed. Interestingly enough, the tough skin on finger hurts worse than the tender areas between fingers. Tried vinegar, bicarb soda, coconut oil with no change. I would rub on benadryl if I had any. Wife got same reaction a month ago and it lasted 24 hours then stopped.

Just had an unintentional encounter in my garden. Single plant in a damp soil environment surrounded by spirea. Yanked it out with my bare hands and immediately got stung on the palms and webs of both hands. Forgot to wear my gloves as I usually do☹️. Immediately washed with soap and water. 2+ hours later it just feels like needles and pins in both hands. No blisters yet 🙂

I have stinging nettle in various parts of my yard. There is quite a bit of it this year. In the spring, I pick the leaves and steep them in hot water for a wonderful tasting tea/elixir. It is very refreshing and energizing. You can use the leaves to make nettle soup. The leaves are as nutritious and delicious as spinach. Right now, in September, I have tons of red admiral butterflies fluttering around my yard. This is due to them using the stinging nettle as a host plant. Now that I've learned what stinging nettle looks like, I do not touch it or if I need to pull it, I wear heavy duty gloves. It is definitely a very useful plant!

I am confused...if the sub species found in Mn. is gracilis...why does page headline read Urtica dioica...Shouldnt it say Urtica gracilis???

No confusion any more...I think...Urtica dioica sub species gracilis

I've been showing people for over 40 years, how to find curled dock, which usually grows right next to nettles, smash a leaf and rub it on the itch, which then goes away. Got it from Eule Gibbons.

I have this plant under "cultivation" in one of my vegetable gardens and have also deliberately encouraged it in others along their edges. Stinging nettle is edible when young (steam the tender new shoots) and the older plants are larval hosts for species of butterfly such as red admiral and Milbert's tortoiseshell.

We've eaten the young shoots in spring. Not bad.

I have this all over my several acres too. Am prepping for sowing a pollinator seed mix in the near future. Above comments indicate that this plant has ecological value but based on how prolific it is, I fear it will upset my new community and ought to at least be reduced if not removed. Any thoughts?

Along the lakeshore. I don't like it.

So maybe the bugs eating the leaves of mature plants are butterfly larvae. Nettles are good to eat. Steam, dry or freeze to inactivate the sting. Interchangeable with spinach or kale in most recipes. Try sweet potato nettles coconut milk ginger lime juice.

This is one of the most nutritious and medicinal plant in the world.

My patch is expanding. Interestingly, it is closely associated with the milkweeds I encourage...as shown in the 6th picture of the leaves, above. Is this association symbiotic?

Heidi, I've never heard of any special relationship between stinging nettle and milkweeds. Stinging nettle grows pretty much anywhere that has moist soil and some of the milkweeds also grow in moist soils. When they're together I imaging it's more coincidence than anything else.

Anyone try eating these plants beyond spring season? If so, what was your experience?

We have these in our vegetable gardens this year, which would make it impossible to harvest. My advice for removing them is to wear a leather jacket, boots, and all-leather gloves if you can - the stings penetrate cloth but not leather. Even leather-palmed gloves are better than all-cloth. After carefully tearing them out and putting them in a bag, I got the spade and dug up the roots. If you are stung, this website is good advice:
https://www.wikihow.com/Treat-a-Sting-from-a-Stinging-Nettle

That procedure saved me days of pain. Also, once most of it was off me I took a nail-clipper and cut open the remaining painful bumps to drain the poison. Next day, the pain and itch are all gone! Maybe they're edible, but I won't try cooking something I can't safely touch.

I photographed a patch in an extensive pollinator field created by Rotary Club in Brainerd near the Mississippi River bottoms, and ID'ed by iNaturalist. Looked to be in the middle of lots of other plants, so human contact seems unlikely.

Never came across it in my yard until this year, and only in my raised strawberry bed. How are the seeds spread? (Birds?)

Nettle extract made from chopped up and submerged plants in a covered pail of water is super fertilizer for mid-season garden annuals and perennials. Cover pail, as it's stinky when fermented! Source: all the gardening shows on Britbox.

When I lived in Coon Rapids, MN, there was a large field of it not far from where I used to live. It was torn out to put a housing development there. One of borders was Hwy 10.

I have used stinging nettles for year to make a tea to combat the effects of poison ivy also to combat the sting from the plant itself.