They say you should never judge a book by its cover – but I do this …all the time…whenever I purchase anything in life.

I’m a sucker for good packaging, great advertising, and especially whimsical product naming. This is especially true with makeup – my favorite are the names associated with nail polishes – who gets to name Essie nail polishes like Vanity Fairest , Tea and Crumpets or Russian Roulette?

So when I went shopping for plants to beautify the concrete slab that is my backyard – I found myself choosing shade loving plants by their names (my condo balcony gets very little direct sunlight unfortunately) – the lucky winner and perhaps my favorite purchase was a leafy perennial known as Spotted Dead Nettle. What an awesome name – it reminds me of something that would be named in a story from Grimm’s Fairy Tales or described by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings.

In its early growth form the plant has deep green jagged tips framing an elegant lace-like leaf. As it matures it produces a light purple flower – mine aren’t at the stage just yet – but for now I am enjoying the greenery every time I look out my window.

I also love botanical prints so here is a pretty one of Spotted Dead Nettle being sold on Etsy by MondernAntiquary !

Can you identify any other plants in the picture?  – hint: think of scented herbs