GARLIC MUSTARD: THE NASTY CULPRIT
by Gail Collins, Cultural Landscape Committee

Non-native to North America, Garlic Mustard is also known as Hedge Garlic, and belongs to the mustard family, otherwise known as Brassicaceae.

This plant was brought into Canada by the Europeans probably for medicinal use and to be used as a green vegetable as well as flavouring.

The first Canadian record of garlic mustard is from Toronto in 1879. Since that time this plant has continued to grow across the country with recordings as far west as Victoria, British Columbia and in the St. Lawrence Valley from Point Pelee in Ontario to the Quebec City area. However,it is most abundant in southwestern Ontario.

Garlic mustard is a biennial plant most commonly found throughout deciduous woods, floodplain forests, gardens and roadsides. During the second year of growth it produces a stalk with a cluster of white flowers that produce seeds by early summer.

Gail Collins and Karen Walton, Directors of the Land Trust, enjoy a break while picking Garlic Mustard.

Throughout North America garlic mustard is displacing native species in some natural areas, and has been listed in The Plant Press survey as a problem in central and southwestern Ontario. In some of these areas it is considered to be a high priority species for removal in order to protect natural habitats. Methods of control include hand pulling, physical cutting of the plants near the ground prior to flowering, or herbicides.

Ruthven Park has not escaped this culprit but has managed to control some of the growth through annual removal of the plant. In the early spring volunteers are observed pulling out the plants one by one.

So a warning to all of you out there! If in the spring you have a meter high plant with a lovely white clustered flower appearing in your garden, we suggest you remove it right away, otherwise, you might be contaminating your whole garden as well as your neighbours, and if anyone has a recipe for garlic mustard please send it along. Who knows, maybe it tastes great!