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Garlic Mustard a highly invasive plant in Cherokee Park!

  • Garlic Mustard is a rapidly spreading, invasive plant with a two year life cycle.
  • These exotic plants bloom in spring, invading woodland areas and forest floors.
  • First year plants are recognizable by their scalloped edged leaves, which produce the smell of garlic when crushed. 
  • Second year plants bloom white flowering stems that develop into seedpods containing as many as 3,000 seeds! 

Why is it important to remove it?

  • Garlic Mustard is considered to be one of the most potentially harmful and difficult to control invasive plants.
  • Once established, Garlic Mustard displaces most native species by competing with wildflowers, tree seedlings and wild life for sunlight, nutrients, and water resources.
  • First year plants can be easily removed by hand pulling in the spring and early summer.
  • Hand pulling helps avoid the development of a seed bank, preventing infestation around our trails, parking lots and parks!
GM Composting talk

Garlic Mustard Grand Sweep, a set on Flickr.

Help remove this invasive plant from the Frederick Law Olmsted Parks check out our events page.

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