If we’ve had a recent rain, the soil may be moist enough to hand pull small, young sprouts of invasive plants. Be sure to remove all parts of the root so that the plant cannot regrow. Keep an eye out for the following invaders when you’re weeding your garden: English ivy (Hedera helix), climbing euonymous (Euonymus fortunei), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergia), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata).
Garlic mustard sets seed in May-September, so it may be starting to set seed this month. It is essential to remove garlic mustard before it sets seed. Do not mow garlic mustard when seed pods are present — which may be the case any time during May through September.
Several plants resemble garlic mustard — if you’ve got only the leaves to go by and no blooms. Two potential cases of mistaken identity are violets and our native Packera — either Packera obovata or Packera aurea. If you’re lucky enough to have a Packera that’s planted itself in your garden — and I’ve been so blessed twice now! — you won’t want to accidentally pull it before it sends up its beautiful yellow flowers! (see photo below).
Violets have heart-shaped leaves but are smooth and shiny, while garlic mustard’s leaves have scalloped edges and a textured surface.
Packera leaves are less rounded and more elongated than garlic mustard. See photo at right.
Be aware that those helpful Fact Sheets produced by Blue Ridge PRISM (Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management) are now located in two places: some are on the PRISM website while others are located at the PRISM’s new Virginia Invasive Plant ID & Control app. The term “app” is something of a misnomer because there’s no app to download; you simply navigate to the Virginia Invasive Plant ID & Control app webpage.
Featured Photo: Garlic mustard in bloom. Photo: Richard Gardner, Bugwood.org