I am in agreement with "anything that has prickley hairs the foliage or stems" (i.e. tomatoes,squash,pumpkins,cukes). I get the intense itching, then the rash, and if I don't wash right away the "whip marks." What a bummer...who wants to garden in the hot weather with long sleeves. Zyrtec doesn't even touch it.

Sorry to say, the sunburn does not go away until the leaves drop or you remove them. When putting my jades out, I've always started by moving them out after work in spring into afternoon sun for an hour, and increased the time by a half hour each day, until they reach the amount of sun time they'll receive in their summer spot. You can also start in the shade, then slowly move it into a spot that receives more sun, then more, and so on. This requires you to know the sun times of such a spot, so if you don't, or can't monitor throughout the day, you're best to follow the first method. All it takes is one "oops.....I forgot" incident and you have burnage.....been there done that. Joe

George, my understanding of a dynamic accumulator is a plant with deep roots that mines minerals from the soil and stores them in it's leaves. By cutting leaves from the plant and using as mulch you have brought micro-nutrients from deep in the ground and made them available to another plant, such as a fruit tree. If you grow comfrey near the tree, you can chop off part of the comfrey leaves and drop them around the tree to improve the growth of the tree. Sort of like fertilizing and mulching at once without having to haul in anything to do it with. It has long been known that legumes set nitrogen for other plants, and work with the bacteria in the soil, but now there is a good deal of research and information being shared about how trees interact with each other through a fungi net underground. There are several videos available on line and I have linked one below. I have become very interested in the things that Mother Earth seems to do to try to heal herself. For instance, if you have a compacted lawn, dandelions show up. They have roots that go deep and start to open up the soil. I have watched videos lately that show areas in the middle east that have had plants come back that they thought were extinct, and the only action has been to fence off the area from the grazing animals. I seem to have changed the way I look at many things, and am learning that there are a lot more things we can do to help our earth function better. When you have 30 minutes to spare, watch this documentary by John D Liu. I'll bet if you watch it once, you will watch it more than once. It is thought provoking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJKiFSQLn4 .............Mother needs a little more help from us. Here is a link that might be useful: Suzanne Simard

Not all of us react the same to every plant as well. People can react to a plant that causes no reaction to many others and vice-versa. It makes the whole stinging or dermatitis causing part harder to base an ID on. And absolutely not Utica dioica. Doesn't look like the other "nettles" in the region like wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) or false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrical) either. I live in the Western NY region. The only thing I've seen that looks similar is first year Lunaria annua plants, but I don't think that is what this is. Any other details about the plant? Any blooms ever seen? FataMorgana