helping woodlands infected with garlic mustard
Native Plants Can Help Fight Back
Few of our woods are as healthy as the photo shown here; many local spots are infected with invasive Garlic Mustard. Because this plant changes soil chemistry, it makes it difficult for most other plants to survive and can quickly take over a forest understory.
If you manage woodland areas or live adjacent to them, the best technique is to remove the invasive plants and to add back in native plants, but this may be cost prohibitive. A promising technique is to seed with native Golden Groundsel which has been shown in many conditions to outcompete Garlic Mustard.
Please download the instructional sheet below for instructions.
The native helper
Golden Groundsel is a wildflower native to the Eastern United States. It is highly beneficial to our local pollinators, plus it benefits other wildlife such as songbirds, butterflies, moths, fireflies, and both aquatic & land turtles.
The invader
Garlic Mustard is a biennial plant brought deliberately to America because it is edible for humans. But it quickly takes over nearly anywhere it is planted; each plant produces up to 5,000 seeds. It is toxic to the endangered West Virginia White butterfly.