I have a linear garden of purchased, inherited, gifted and grafted plants. Half of them are herbs and my forlorn tomato plant, the rest are a mix of decorative plants like my Mom's ficus and the giant fern. They all sit along my windowsill and my dining room table in the sunlight. However, recently I discovered that something had creeped into my indoor garden.At first I had no idea what it was, it was just a random plant growing through my Rosemary. Both my roommate and I were baffled, and it decided to take advantage of us. As we were pulling the Rosemary aside to further inspect this invasive plant, it stung both of us. The sensation stayed in our fingers for a good half hour after the fact. This is what led me to believe that it was a stinging nettle. I found my heavy duty carpentry gloves to cut it out of the pot and dispose of it, once some pictures were taken to send to my Mom for confirmation of it's identity. She gardens and spent several years working part-time in a plant nursery.
The bit that really confuses me about the whole situation is that not only is my garden indoors and 14 stories up in the air, the soil I use is bagged and purchased from garden centres. Soil like that is usually sterilized before being put on sale, so random seeds shouldn't be an issue! My Mom more or less confirmed my suspicions about the evil plant being a stinging nettle, and also mentioned that seeds can lie dormant for large periods of time. They sit in soil, and when the conditions are right, they can then grow. I guess a warm, sunny window that get's a good watering regularly was absolutely perfect.
Evil!!
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