Spring green

Spring has arrived in the woods. I know because the garlic mustard is back. I went out with the chain saw to slice up the various trees and branches that had fallen on the trails over the winter and there it was, already rather large and robust looking. Soon the entire forest floor will be a carpet of toxic green.

What’s wrong with garlic mustard? After all, it makes a tasty addition to a salad or soup. Here’s what the Plant Conservation Alliance says:

Garlic mustard poses a severe threat to native plants and animals in forest communities in much of the eastern and midwestern U.S. Many native widlflowers that complete their life cycles in the springtime (e.g., spring beauty, wild ginger, bloodroot, Dutchman's breeches, hepatica, toothworts, and trilliums) occur in the same habitat as garlic mustard. Once introduced to an area, garlic mustard out-competes native plants by aggressively monopolizing light, moisture, nutrients, soil and space. Wildlife species that depend on these early plants for their foliage, pollen, nectar, fruits, seeds and roots, are deprived of these essential food sources when garlic mustard replaces them. Humans are also deprived of the vibrant display of beautiful spring wildflowers.

I have given up fighting garlic mustard. When it first appeared several years ago, I went on a rampage of uprooting it, poisoning it with Roundup and even burning it. I have the propane flame thrower to prove it if anyone cares to know. Nothing worked. It seems to thrive on Roundup. Maybe it ingested some of those Roundup ready genes Monsanto is using to spike its soybean seeds.

If it were just the one thing, maybe a guy could feel that something could be done. But if you spend all your time fighting garlic mustard, when will you fight the buckthorn or the Japanese honeysuckle? And there is no way to fight the Dutch elm disease, oak wilt or green ash borer.

All that makes a walk in the spring woods rather a bittersweet experience. It even makes it kind of tempting to enjoy the things that invaders can’t destroy, like the roar of a sweetly tuned Stihl saw with a very sharp blade. At least when you cut something, it stays cut.