Wildflower Wednesday and Progress on my Hexagon Basket Quilt

Today\s wildflower is the Garlic Mustard plant, officially called Alloria Petiolata.  It's a pretty plant, but quite invasive in the garden.  It's in the mustard family - Brassicaceae.  But when it is crushed it smells like garlic, hence the genus of Alloria (Allum).  Actually I find it to be quite stinky, not like garlic at all.  It has white flowers on lovely green plants.  It is a biennial.  The first year it grows into a low, green plant.  Then it winters over and the following year it grows very tall and produces the white flowers.

I have the pioneers to thank for bringing this plant over when they came to Ontario.  It is now growing prolifically in my garden.  Last year I wanted to pull the little rosette plants out, but I couldn't reach them.  They seemed so small and insignificant, so I let them be.  But this year they have grown into a large clump of invasive greeness, that is stifling my Garden Plox at the back of my yard.

So yesterday I pulled a lot of them out.  They have long tap roots, like dandelions, but I have been assured that if I don't get the entire root out, they will not regrow.  These plants only propagate by seeds.  But a healthy plant can produce between 150 and 850 seeds. And the seeds can lie dormant for several years.  So if I don't pull them up, I will have a garden completely over run by these plants.  I have heard that they can be used in salads and the seeds can be used to season foods.  But I don't ever think I will add them to my cooking.

I am also working on my last corner of my hexagon basket quilt.  Only about a hundred or so hexies to go.

I am running a bit late today.  A massive thunder storm woke me this morning.  I was afraid the power would go out and my computer would be compromised, so I shut it down for a couple of hours.  The sun is shining now and I think it will be a beautiful day.  So that I can go out and pull out more weeds in my garden.