Ridding Invasives—

Conservationist Advises: Rip Up Mustard Weed As Soon As Possible

By Kendra Bobowick

Rip out mustard weed by the roots and leave it to dry in the sun, advises gardener and Conservation Commissioner Mary Gaudet-Wilson.

Anyone conscientious about ridding the landscape of invasive plants does not have to go far before stumbling through bountiful carpets of garlic mustard weed. Just now beginning to bloom with tiny white flowers topping a roughly foot-high cluster of scallop-shaped leaves with ruffled edges, Ms Gaudet worries that the plant will soon produce seeds.

In a recent email, she ran down a list of invasives with the warning: “barberry is budding forth, the autumn olive is greening up, and the garlic mustard is everywhere.

It is “everywhere on roadsides, bordering lawns and driveways, poking up through the season’s emerging gardens, and even if it is yanked by the roots, the seeds that fall can send up new plants for years,” she said. Get it out of the ground before seeds sow and patches of the plant  — which does have a faint garlic scent when the leaves are broken — flourish next spring.

Right now, as the little white flowers open, the weed is “visually apparent,” and she urges homeowners to pull it up.

The Alliara petiolata, or garlic mustard, is native to Europe, and poses an ecological threat in this region, according to The Plant Conservation Alliance (nps.gov/plants/alien). 

“Once garlic mustard is introduced to an area it outcompetes native plants — bloodroot, wild ginger, Dutchman’s breeches, spring beauty, toothwarts, trillium, etc — and monopolizes the soil, sun, moisture, nutrients, and space,” according to notes on PCA’s website. Wildlife depends on the native species for foliage, nectar, pollen, seeds, roots, and garlic mustard replaces these plants necessary to the habitat.

The West Virginia white butterfly is also at risk. A fact sheet posted by PVA states: “Several [at risk] species of spring wildflowers … are the primary food source for the caterpillar stage of this butterfly.”

Garlic mustard occurs in moist, shaded soil or river floodplains, forests, roadsides, edges of woods and trails. Areas are susceptible to rapid invasion and dominance.