Garlic Mustard: The Time is Ripe
Time to get rid of it. Garlic mustard. Out it goes! The name sounds tasty, doesn’t it? It’s a pretty little wildflower with lovely white blossoms. The leaves have an attractively scalloped edge, and a savory garlic taste, a fantastic addition to salads, quiche, and stir-fry. A lovely and useful plant, you’d think. But I’ve spent all day killing it. Eradicating it. Ripping it out by the roots. Doing everything short of spraying a dose of Round-Up on it. Why? I have an enormous tolerance for non-native “weeds,” as my undying love for dandelions shows. Why enjoy the dandelions, the...
Read MoreAll Roads Lead to Dandelions
No matter where you go, it seems there’s a dandelion at your feet–or under your feet. This is a cobbled pathway in Central Park, New York City. The dandelions don’t content themselves with growing on the lawn, they invade the sidewalk, too. The flower and leaves manage to survive in the spaces between the stones. Just a few small crumpled leaves. Getting walked on all the time. How on earth can they do it? The secret of their success is in the root. Dandelions are perennials, coming up year after year, for five years or even more. So the root has time to get big. Even if...
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