Have you seen this beautiful plant flowering alongside roads, in your backyard, or maybe even at Irvine? Did you know that it can be eaten in a salad, cooked into pesto, or steamed like spinach? Sounds great, right? Wrong!
Meet garlic mustard! This aggressively invasive plant was first introduced by European settlers as a food source. In its native Europe, the plant is widespread but has many natural predators, including insects and herbivores. Garlic mustard has taken over in Maryland because our native animals don’t have a taste for it AND the plant secretes compounds that inhibit the growth of native plants.
Last week, two students from Towson braved the rain for a morning of volunteering. They worked tirelessly to remove an enormous patch of garlic mustard from Irvine’s property.
After invasive removal, the two worked on painting story stones to be used at Irvine’s birthday parties and other programs. Thank you, Cydney and Anthony!
Interested in volunteering to remove these non-native nasties? Contact Kim for more information.
