British Columbia: Where to buy stinging nettle plant in Vancouver, B.C?

Does anyone know where the stinging nettle plant can be purchased
in Vancouver? Should I contact Mandeville Garden to see if I can order it?

Or, can I purchase it or seeds at the UBC Botanical Gardens at UBC?

Finally, is that a bad idea? For example, does it just take over
the garden, or is our weather wrong for it?
Sorry for so many questions.
Any answer on anything is wonderful.

 

JoyC - may I ask why you want to grow stinging nettle? It tends to grow wild here and most of us get rid of it the minute it pops up. It likes moist,acidic soil and grows well in shade. Ours used to get 5 ft tall growing under Doug firs. I do know it is sometime used for holistic medicinal purposes. Just curious ;)))barb

 

Hello there, we bought organic stinging nettle at one of the health food shops
and we want to grow it, use it for many things...it is so good for
health purposes, the list is very long. We live in Burnaby near Metrotown
and we are seniors. We use only alternative health methods...about 99%
of the time. There's so much more in natural things.
My husband is Cajun and has that 'green thumb', and comfrey,
for example wants to take over here. We love comfrey, use
the root...knitbone for compresses. So we'd like to grow nettle
and hope to be able to get that going.
Oh, our soil here in Vancouver...acid all right.
Please let me know, thanks so much.

 

Joy - This might help. Don't know if they are US or Canada. http://www.localharvest.org/store/ I too use comfrey and also lovage for stews. barb

 

We used to go to Anacortes, so nice there, quite
peaceful comparatively. Beautiful. That site is
US but I sent an e-mail to UBC which is very close
to us. And they grow it there, so maybe???
And then I can call the gardening place and
likely order it. Thanks for getting me going on this.

 

Your more than welcome. And, welcome to this forum. We have people from all over the world to ask questions of. It's really great. barb

 

Best way would be to find somewhere with a big patch of it, and ask permission to dig some roots to transplant.

 

Guess I could just go where the farms are, or
phone up some farms or where horses are and
ask if they have it, go etc. That could be
a nice day, anyway. Thanks for the tip.
I hear it loves 'cow pies'. Probably horse
pies also.

 

Joy, you might be interested to read an article I posted on the 'Plants: In The News' forum on June 15, 2009---entitled 'Stinging Nettle---The Wonder Plant!' There is a link at the bottom of the article to:
www.nettlefarm.com
Plants are amazing!

 

We will try to find nettle seeds or nettle plant and
grow our own herbs this way just for our own teas
and things. From what I learned, they would be
put in a pot to contain them, but I think they
likely can spread if they go to seed also.
Some people said they were always pulling these up.
I am going to try to find a cow farm here somewhere
and go on out, phoning to explain and see if I can
find some. Thanks for info.

 

Too bad you aren't in the US, I could give you bushels of rootstocks from the Camano Island site. Camano Island actually has a history of being a nettle cropping area, the native peoples there were encouraging nettle patches for their own use when introduced to potato cultivation by white settlers.

Which they really took to.

 

Thanks for message. I'm now wondering whether to put
an ad in the Buy & Sell under 'wanted-plants' or whether
to look up dairy farms here around an area called 'Richmond'
to find 'cow pies' and nettles growing. So, an
adventure. I'd rather find an outlet but, well,
it likely will be interesting.

 

Hi Joy,

We live on a small acreage in Langley (with horses), and we can't get rid of the stinging nettle here! It grows like crazy...forests of it, as it grows quite tall. And it readily goes to seed for future crops! Ha,Ha Let me know if you feel like a drive out to the country! It would take you about an hour from the Metrotown area. Nancy

 

Thank you so much!!! I travel by bus,
and it is not a problem at all as long as
you aren't too far(I could even bring my
bike to cycle from the bus).
We want to grow it (sounds ridiculous, I suppose)
but it has good health benefits for seniors.
Well, for anyone, probably.

So, actually we live nearer to Edmond's and
skytrain goes to King George or Surrey Central,
and then the 590 to Langley...done this several
times and not a problem. So, hopefully it is
possible.

Horses...that's wonderful. Aren't they just so
...maybe..intuitive???

Thanks again, if it's possible, let me know,
my e-mail is uniluv2go4@gmail.com if you
want to do it that way???

Joy

 

Stinging nettle, in my experience, is an indicator plant. It loves nitrogen & moisture. So that's why it is associated with farms & domestic cattle. If you are wandering in the woods in UK & Europe, the nettle will nearly always indicate human habitation/animal husbandry past or present...watch out for wet & smelly spots! In Vancouver I have walked with a friend up the Western edge of Pac Spirit park & there are patches of it there on road allowances & waste ground. Dog walking & dumping organic garden waste account for the favourable conditions I think.

Nettles support a wide variety of other species & have a cult following eg www.nettles.org.uk Fascinating plants that have a long association with humans. Grow some, for sure.

 

I was glad people alerted me to the tendency it has to
take over everything. I would thus grow it in a large pot.
But I also understand it goes to seed, so I think it would
have to be cut back in the fall which if the plant is
small won't be work.
But thanks for the info because the 33 bus goes through
Pac Spirit park and I've always wanted to go hiking there.
Another person is checking to see if they have it on
their acreage.
You can check this online but nettle is really good for us.
We're seniors so it's more important, maybe, although
I'm a believer in 'an ounce of prevention'. But thanks
a lot for your response here.
I'm new to this and it's just great!!!

 

I live 2 km south of Cloverdale and have lots of stinging nettle on my property of almost an acre. I get a bad reaction if I touch it. You are welcome to come and dig some up if you desire.

 

That sounds great. If the bus goes there,
I can get there. Another person might have
some so I'll see about that. My e-mail is
uniluv2go4@gmail.
The very stuff in that stinger is what will
heal things. But you can't touch it.
You have to simmer it. The chemical
is good. So, if you want to let me know,
I'll see if I can arrange this. I twisted
my ankle but should be good by
next weekend.
Thanks so much for your concern.
So, yes.

 

All nettle growers!
"I get a bad reaction if I touch it"
I think this applies to all of us, so if you grow nettles you also need to have some bracket fern around. If you do get "stung" pull up a root of the bracken fern, smush it to a pulp and smear the pulp on the stings. It will take the sting away. I learned this as a kid. We had nettles all over the place and I react to them. Check out the link below. It gives better info than I. ;)) barb

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracken

 

...or if you want the high-tech version. Carry a bit of anti-histamine of some kind (cold/allergy syrup with anti histamines does for me) & put it on. "After bite" works to some extent.

Really, unless you are sensitive - it isn't that bad, unless you roll in it. Not as bad as mosquitos! My mother used to deliberately sting herself with nettles in the belief that they helped her rheumatism. Mind you, she was a tough lady.

 

I'd rather get a mosquito bite than touch stinging nettle. With the stinging nettle I get a very annoying tingling sensation for at least 24 hours. Mosquito bites don't bother me unless I rub them.

 

Stinging nettle is all over the place in my neighbourhood, JoyC, and it's going to seed now. If you want some seed, send me a private note.

EDITED TO ADD:

If you found this thread because you're in Canada and are looking for nettle seeds, try a web search something like this:

nettle seeds Canada

One Canadian company that sells nettle seeds is Richters. Their website is http://richters.com , and at the moment their nettle page is at http://richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X4270&show=all&prodclass=&cart_id=5619498.26313

 

That would be wonderful.
My e-mail address, if you'd like to do it that way is
uniluv2go4@gmail.com ...it means that you and I
love to go for a hike to get nettles!
I live in Burnaby, and if you can e-mail me,
I'll give you the address.
Yes, if you look online, you'll be amazed at it.
We love the tea.

 

Never heard of bracken being used to treat nettle stings before, and wouldn't recommend it either given bracken's toxicity.

The traditional treatment here for nettle stings is to rub dock (Rumex spp., usually Rumex obtusifolius) leaves on the sting.

 

Dock leaves, that sounds like something else to grow also!!
Uh, oh, better not start something here, but thanks
so much for the information. I just love herbs, and
have for a long time. They are a slow method, but
so much better because they do so much more.