Early Weeds
left for a year or so, they seem to go deeper and deeper each year. I hate these plants!
Garlic Mustard
Garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (synonym is A. officinalis, now not accepted) is a plant that you might think quite pretty, seen in mass in spring in bloom. It's also edible, high in vitamins A and C, and was brought to the US by early settlers who used it as a spring potherb and to flavor other foods. The common name results from the faint garlic odor of the leaves when crushed. Having pulled a ton of it these last few days, I can attest that this is a rather haunting scent - not overpowering, rather illusive, but definite.
Garlic mustard belongs to the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) or mustard family as do cabbages, radishes, Alyssum, and one hundred two genera worldwide.
While it may be an attractive plant and it is nutritious, it is also an insidious, rapacious weed that will completely take over a woodland area in very little time, choking out any desirable native flora.
It is sneaky, too. One year there may be a few here and there - not enough to bother about and the next the ground is covered. There appears to be a possible connection with the spread of this weed and white-tail deer (one more black mark for bambi).
Until last year or possibly the year before, I never really noticed this plant. I remember last summer pulling a fair amount of it in one spot that was looking very ratty as the seed pods matured. This year, literally the entire floor of the woods is covered with it and it is working into my borders. I have spent three days pulling it and have made little headway. The task of eradicating this is daunting.
Tiny white flowers, typical of the mustard family, are produced in terminal racemes in spring (now in my garden). Usually one raceme to a flowering stalk, although there can be short side stalks and sometimes additional flowers later in the season. Flowers can be self or cross pollinated. Any plant rosette that survives the winter will flower, no matter how small. I've pulled flowering, seed forming plants as small as about two inches (5 cm) and as tall as three feet (0.9 m), and I understand they can become taller than this.
Seed pods, correctly termed a linear
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