Garlic mustard everywhere

One of the things about working for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is that you start to notice things you didn’t before.  For instance, I live in Lawrenceville and use Arsenal Park.  Now when I walk there, I see the cracked pavement, mossy tennis courts, and that kidney-shaped cement basin that must have held water at one time.  It could be a lot nicer.  (This is my sly plug to bring attention to the deterioration of that park.)

 

But at this time of year, what I really notice everywhere is garlic mustard.  Instead of a delicate plant with tiny white flowers, what I see is a nasty “invasive”!   Invasives are plants that came from some other place – often overseas – and can overrun and kill our native plants. 

 

As an Urban Eco Steward, I’m responsible for taking care of a small area in Riverview Park.  I’m heading there this weekend, so I don’t miss my window of opportunity to attack the garlic mustard before it goes to seed and spreads even more.

 

But garlic mustard doesn’t confine itself just to the parks.  I see it everywhere on my drive to and from work — at the Bloomfield Bridge base of Polish Hill, on the slopes of Kenard Field in the Hill District, and on the Bates Street hillside.

 

I’m going to get a friend to join me on my ride home.  That way, as I inch the car up Bates, she can lean out the window and grab a lot of that garlic mustard.