Garlic Mustard, Hedge Garlic, Jack by the Hedge

This was showing in February with snow still on the ground and glad I took the time to identify it. I saw a couple of these late last yea...Read Morer when we moved in so I am going to get rid of them now before they get any worse. I am giving this a negative as all the stories I have heard from the new neighbors and reading online!

I've had this come in by seed from a neighbor, and have also had to deal with it as a professional gardener. It's an aggressive weed. It ...Read Morealso look ugly in summer after it goes to seed, when the whole plant dies.

This plant spreads like wildfire by seed. Seeds can spread by sticking to your boots. Once a stem starts flower, it has enough stored food and water to produce viable seed even if cut down and left on a compost heap. That's why it's important to bag flowering plants and dispose of them in landfill.

Garlic mustard is a biennial, and cannot flower without first going through a cold period. In its second year it will flower and go to seed no matter how small it is, even if only 1" tall.

This plant prefers shade, and will tolerate very deep shade. It isn't very drought-tolerant, and first-year seedlings in full sun often die of drought in late summer.

In weeding, it's helpful to know that there's a weak point near the base of the stem where it tends to break off. Where the soil is hard or stony, it's easy to leave a lot of root behind. New plants can regenerate from pieces of root, and a root dug out and left on the surface will re-root and go to seed. A trowel or similar tool is essential if you want to get all the root out consistently.

This plant is allelopathic---it puts out chemicals into the soil that inhibit the growth of other plants. It also inhibits the growth of symbiotic fungi (mycorhizae) that many plants native to eastern North America depend on for normal growth.

Garlic mustard invades and damages natural woodland habitat in eastern and northwestern North America. It's more or less evergreen, and wakes up early enough in the spring to outcompete our woodland spring wildflowers. I've often seen native woodlands carpeted by solid stands of garlic mustard.

This plant is easy to kill with glyphosate herbicide. It is evergreen, and in natural woodland, the best way to avoid killing non-target plants is to spray on a relatively warm day in fall or winter, when most woodland plants are dormant.

Seeds remain viable in the soil for at least five years.

Those who try to restore native woodland by removing a stand of garlic mustard often find that another invasive plant fills the vacuum left when the garlic mustard is gone. It's important to plan for this and replace the garlic mustard with appropriate woodland plants or their seeds. The garlic mustard itself is often filling the vacuum left after the destruction of our native wildflowers by deer. Deer generally leave garlic mustard alone.

This plant is often said to have been brought to North America by European immigrants who used it as a medicinal and culinary herb. But before you try to eat it, you should know that it contains enough cyanide (up to 100 ppm) to make you sick if you eat a big serving. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17146719

Eight states have designated this species a noxious weed or prohibited plant.

Uhm, WOW. Well, I am reading it's actually a really wonderful plant to eat and is absolutely delicious. Any one want to comment on the flavor?

IF your garden is in Eastern North America, don't even think about it. I have spent literally hundreds of hours eliminating this plant fr...Read Moreom my 100'x150' suburban lot. The previous owner allowed this to grow because he thought it was 'pretty'. Note home buyers: if you see this growing on a potential property for you, make sure subtract at least a couple thousand dollars from the price to account for the eons of time you'll spend pulling this from your gardens.

If I lived in an area where this plant was native, I would love it. Unfortunately, here in the U.S. it is non-native, invasive and destr...Read Moreoying our forests. I've been battling this like crazy in my woods. It's a biennial plant -rosette first year, flowers & sets seed in second year.

Here is info from Minnesota DNR website:

"Ecological Threat:
- Garlic mustard spreads into high quality woodlands upland and floodplain forests, not just into disturbed areas.
- Invaded sites undergo a decline on native herbaceous cover within 10 years.
- Garlic mustard alters habitat suitability for native insects and thereby birds and mammals.
- This European exotic occurs now in 27 midwestern and northeastern states and in Canada. "
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/herba...

U.S. National Park Service calls garlic mustard “a severe threat to native plants and animals in forest communities in much of the Eastern and Midwestern United States.”

In a nutshell, it chokes out the native plants. Trouble with that is your wildlife, birds, insects have evolved since beginning of time to live on the native plants, not garlic mustard. When you wipe out the native plants, you do a good job of wiping out the native wildlife. They say garlic mustard is creating "starvation forests" for wildlife in the U.S.

Here's an article that addresses the issue with some humor: http://jackfsanders.tripod.com/garlicmustard.htm

WE have renamed these plants to “Mustard Mutants”. I found one in my yard when I moved in 5 years ago and the battle began. I spend...Read More at least an hour or so of my day walking around and pulling these out. I am a “green” person by nature and do not use any chemicals here. I embrace most wildflowers/weeds like violets and dandelions and just let them do their thing. But THESE plants have torn a black hole in my heart and I feel the urge to buy every chemical known in the garden world, but I doubt it would do any good. I have read that the seeds can sit for 8 years and just “chill” waiting to pop their ugly heads out of the ground. I really wish that there was a better way to rid them, but for know I am going to roll up my sleeves and keep pulling. If you wait until after a rain they do pull easier because you have to get the whole root. That is the only advise I can give for these hateful monsters.

This is one of the worst thugs I know. I didn't know it was edible, but you know what, that does not redeem it in the slightest. It doe...Read Mores not matter how much I yank these stinky weeds out, they always return because my neighbors let their take over. If you see this plant growing anywhere at all I urge you to destroy it.

I heard on NPR recently that this is the MOST nutritious green ever tested. It is terribly INVASIVE here. I have hated it for years. Yet ...Read Moresince I have learned how nutritious it is, I plan to grow it in containers where it can't escape, keep it deadheaded, and chow down! I've been needing to find a food crop that would be prolific and strong here in zone 5.....
Beans and greens, baby. Beans and greens. FREE FOOD!

So... I see that many people regard this plant as a nuisance. I think it interesting that the same plant will behave differently, even in...Read More nearby locations.

I used to live in Laramie, WY at 7200 feet elevation. There, dandelions grew 2 feet tall overnight and looked like something from another planet. I also struggled with bellflower, a pretty blue flowered plant I thought at first, that reproduces from millions of hair thin roots that I could not get it out of my lawn after years of trying. The Ag Extension recommended a very powerful herbicide not normally available to home gardeners since bellflower regards any herbicide available at the hardware store as fertilizer.

Here in Denver, a few hours drive away, I have never seen bellflower except in nurseries, and dandelions grow only a few inches tall. We have bindweed everywhere, although I never saw it in Laramie. Also, the spearmint I bought 10 years ago at a local nursery has required massive amounts of labor to keep under control. That is an AWFUL plant in my garden.

I have read that garlic mustard is the most nutritious greens every tested. So --- why not harvest and eat it? I am looking for some seeds to try in my garden. And - I don't believe that it or anything else can crowd out the spearmint.

BTW, another flower I loved in Laramie is the Star Lilly, which is apparently native to that area. I haven't been able to find seeds for it or any way to start it here.

If anyone wants some bindweed or spearmint, just ask!

Jim

This seems to be a problem plant outside its native area (Europe), in Europe it grows in balance with other plants and is not a dominant ...Read Morespecies anywhere, things like stinging nettle (Urtica), hogweed and other parsley plants and various thistles are far more prolific. In England stinging nettle is about as dominant and widespread a plant as you'll find anywhere.

It took this plant 5 years to go from three plants to absolute domination over poison ivy, virginia creeper, myrtle, wild raspberry, herb...Read More robert and all the other plants in a 3 acre section of forest. in a shaded, non-waterlogged forest, it will conquer ANYTHING.

You've got to be kidding - this stuff spreads like mad. Google "garlic mustard pulls" and help out at a park or preserve near you. You ca...Read Moren't have any of mine! I'm still working on eradicating it from the edge of the woods behind me - pulling the tall second-year plants when they begin to bloom. Within a limited area, it is possible. Some native woodland plants are returning as a result, like the mayapples.

Here in Toronto garlic mustard is extremely invasive. Canadian wildlife will not eat it, it seeds prolifically, and it even damages the m...Read Moreycorrhizal fungi that Canadian native plants need to grow properly. The result is that it takes over Canadian woodlands, devastating populations of Canadian native plants and the wild animals who depend on them. If you live in North America, please please please remove this weed if you find it on your property, lest it escape and destroy more wilderness.

I love this plant too! It's sooo beautiful in spring with its lovely white flowers and beautiful heart-shaped light green foliage!
...Read More

I don't know why so many negatives, I can't say ENOUGH GREAT things about this plant!!!! Its flowers are very aroma and the leaves can be...Read More put In other foods and adds a taste of spice to any dish you care to cook up. It Is such a beautiful plant when In bloom and the bright green foliage Is breath taking to say the least, This plant should be encouraged to grow in EVERY yard. If you have this plant be sure to give friends and family some seeds so they can have It a growing on there property to love and admirer. This Is among some of the nicest plants that you can grow. A+ plant with nothing but GREAT qualities to have!! And once you have It before long you have MORE great plants to love and enjoy. It believes In giving more of its self with greater numbers every year so that the love and beauty of It can be spread. And like I said, do give some seeds to family and friends they will love It as well. A++++ plant all the way!!!!!!!

I can't understand why anyone would want to grow this plant. first of all I find it ugly, but that might just be because it's the number ...Read Moreone weed in my garden! I'ts on New York state's invasive list and crews of voulnteers gather each year to help destroy it. although edible (i think it tastes horrible) it causes irritations on your skin and the pollen gives lots of people alergies. If anyone is even considering leting this palnt grow in the back area of there lot I would STRONGLY advise them to destroy the plant asap, not to mention planting it in there garden.

I'm sure garlic mustard is a nice enough plant in its native range, which is Eurasia and North Africa, but for some reason it simply take...Read Mores over the forest in North America. There are "nature preserves" in my area of New York that are completely infested with garlic mustard. Needless to say, native spring forbs like trillium are nowhere to be found.

On the plus side, the flowers are aromatic, and the leaves are edible. But no responsible North American gardener should be growing it, and state officials need to start doing a better job of controlling it on public lands.

In upstate NY this plant is invading everywhere rapidly. I pull huge amounts every spring and it is beginning to make some impact. Chri...Read Morestmas and other ferns are coming back strongly where I have greatly reduced the garlic mustard but it is very tough to get rid of on 4 acres. Hand pulling seems to cause less seed dispersal then tools or machinery but it is harder work. Cornell is researching bio control methods of this unrelenting invasive ( invasive plants.net ) is their page for Cornell cooperative extension invasive sight.

This plant crowds out wildflowers, there is no good aspect to this plant whatsoever. It is a weed by every definition.

Have appear in small numbers in my yard even thought there were no plants for thousands of feet. Very ugly with dried seedheads through l...Read Moreate summer to fall, making woodland area look more weedy than it used to be.

Listed as invasive on Minnesota DNR website
"Ecological Threat:
Garlic mustard spreads into high quality woodlands upland a...Read Morend floodplain forests, not just into disturbed areas.
Invaded sites undergo a decline on native herbaceous cover within 10 years.
Garlic mustard alters habitat suitability for native insects and thereby birds and mammals.
This European exotic occurs now in 27 midwestern and northeastern states and in Canada.
Garlic mustard is on the MDA Prohibited noxious weeds list in Minnesota"

This is one of the worst plants I have ever come across. I would prefer to call it Hitler-Weed, because it invades anywhere and everywhe...Read Morere it can. When it first starts to grow in an area, it only takes a few years to explode in numbers until a sea of white can be seen everywhere. Around here, it seems to grow everywhere and it is quickly wiping out many of the native species of plants.

I will list its uses as an edible wild plant, but I refuse to ever recommend it for planting in the home garden.

"The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America: Nature's Green Feast" by Francois Couplan, Ph.D. says...

"The leaves have a very definite smell and taste of garlic. They are slightly bitter, with a sweetish aftertaste and make an excellent addition to salads. With cooking, they lose their aroma while retaining mostly their bitterness and are therefore better raw.

The plant was formerly much eaten to Europe. It contains a glucoside (sinigrin) and essential oils. Hedge garlic is diuretic, vulnerary and antiputrefactive. The seeds can be used as a spice, but they are bitter as well as pungent."

"Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide" by Elias & Dykeman says...

"Harvest: Young leaves, blossoms, and seed pods in spring and early summer.

Preparation: Chop tender growth raw in salad; for cooked vegetable steam or boil in little water, season with salt and butter. Use for garlic flavor with meats and vegetables."

"Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America" by Fernald & Kinsey says...

"The old-fashioned garden plant, Garlic-Mustard, a tall biennial with heart-shaped or somewhat triangular stem-leaves smelling like garlic, and with white flowers with 4 petals, borne in a simple terminal cluster, has spread somewhat to roadsides and borders of groves. It is available for those who like the combination.

Evelyn, hiding the identity under the old English names, Jack-By-The-Hedge and Sauce-Alone, said, "eaten, as other Sallets, by all Lovers of Garlick"; and Bryant, nearly a century later, said: "The poor people in the country [England] eat the leaves of this plant with their bread, and on account of the relish they give, call them sauce-alone. They also mix them with Lettuce, use them as a stuffing herb to pork, and eat them with salt-fish."

Perhaps if we get enough people to eat it, we can start to eradicate it.

This is an exotic and VERY invasive plant. Never saw it around here until maybe three years ago - last year it was widespread in woods an...Read Mored gardens. Have been pulling it agressively from gardens but with acres of woods it is impossible to eradicate it. Plus it is quite irritating to the skin. Shade, sun, it does not care. It spreads everywhere! Horrible! Yet another lesson of why we should not introduce exotics.

It's extremely invasive here too. Though it pulls up easily... it's just everywhere.

I have found that spraying in the sp...Read Morering (with round-up or weed killer) it helps keep it at bay.

This plant is listed on the North Dakota invasive/troublesome list and this information is being distributed in a guide developed by the ...Read MoreND Weed Control Association and other agencies.

Plant Features
Biennial, up to 3 feet tall
First year leaves kidney shaped, plants short
Second year, blooms early spring
White flowers with 4 petals
Leaves heart-shaped to triangular-shaped
Leaf edges irregular
Garlic odor when crushed
White slender taproot, S-shaped at the top
May form large patches
Long thin seed capsules, slightly bent at base

Distribution
Documented in a few areas. Very aggressive, shade tolerant, grows (understory) in wooded areas.

Interesting Facts
Escaped garden plant
Very invasive, releases toxins that inhibits other plant growth (allelopathic)
Ballistic seed dispersal, seed capsules erupt dispersing tiny black seeds over 10 feet

This is one of the most invasive plants in Wisconsin. I am pretty sure it is illegal to plant it. The field behind my house is over run w...Read Moreith it and it keeps spring up in my yard. An awful invasive plant.

A very, very bad plant. It'll escape from you and form mass colonies wherever they can. I had the misfortune of moving onto a property th...Read Moreat was already established with them.

The only good thing about this plant is that it pulls up easily, but the tiny seed spread like crazy and even worse, the plant attracts ants like a magnet.

It crowds out native plants and everything else and therefor I would highly encourage killing any plants on site.

4/11/08: I've remained stringent with mowing them before they flower so they don't set seed. I get the rest with a weed whacker, where I can't mow. It has done WONDERS. You have to keep it up for the next few years to completely knock it out. Unless... You have neighbors who let it thrive and you'll probably end up with them again.

Horribly invasive. Nasty plant. Creates a seedbank that goes on giving for years to come. Very easy to pull out by hand so requires no ...Read Morechemicals what so ever to eradicate. You can easily get about 90% the first year in a very short period of time and in year two you get the rest. This is a non-native biennial so the next few years you will need to look for the newly emerging rosettes.

Burn or bag and toss in your garbage as the tiny black seeds will come back to get you if you add this to your composter.

Evil plant.

In my area of chester county, PA, it runs rampant in fields and along roads and spreads into the woods.
...Read More
When I bought this property, it was covered by them. Fairly serious weeding before seed sets (preferably during bloom, when they're easy to pick out) does make a big dent in a year, and a massive dent in two. But it will be a bunch of years before I have it under control in the area around the house. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully control it in the woods nearby, but I believe it can be controlled to a large degree with work every spring.

Note: it forms deep taproots in the summer/fall, and the next year it comes up in big clumps. If you can make a pass weeding in the fall you might cut into that. Also, in this area the fall clumps are semi-evergreen through the winter. Note that in loose soil it's very easily pulled even with a taproot; this year's seedlings are trivial.

Three years ago there were only a few plants on our one-acre garden area. I should have erridicated it then, for it has now taken over. ...Read MoreIt overran and killed our large bloodroot patch, and has threatened other areas as well.
We are attempting to pull every plant we can before it goes to seed this year, and cut down every plant we cannot pull. We understand that the seed is viable for up to 7 years, and that erridication will be a long-term undertaking.

This is an evil evil plant...... if you want mustard flavor plant mustard or arugula..... garlic chives and of course garlic also work....Read More.... spreads through runners and seeds....... mostly seeds...... can eradicate by pulling before plants flower or at least set their seeds in spring.... this is a noxious weed in many places..... banned in many places...... do not grow..... it chokes out our native forests and meadows...... not worth the trouble.......

WARNING
Before I begin the description I would like to say that this particular plant will, without a doubt, escape into the wild....Read More It is native to Europe ONLY, anywhere else it is an introduced, invasive, undesirable weed which displaces native flora and rapidly takes over a large area. It is also difficult and expensive to erradicate.

If you are considering growing this plant outside of Europe, I would respectfully suggest further reading.

It has heart shaped, toothed, mid green, deeply veined leaves with a distinct garlic smell when crushed. It bears tiny, white, 4 petalled flowers borne in a ring on the end of the stems. It is a biennial which only flowers in its 2nd year.

Flowers April - July

Will run rampant on well drained alkaline soils in sun or shade.

The leaves are edible in salads, sauces and with salted meat as it has a very mild garlic taste.

Once used as a medicinal herb; externally it was used as in an antiseptic to treat skin ulcers and gangrene. The juice was also boiled up with honey and used to treat dropsy.