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Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel
GARDINER Invasive herb appearance spurs concern
BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 04/20/2008

GARDINER -- Certain neighborhoods in Gardiner are under attack.

Not by the military.

Or locust.

Or protesting youth.

But an invasion of alien plants.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is starting to "take over" neighborhoods on Harrison Avenue, High Holborn Street and along Cobbossee Stream.

Toni Pied, member of the Gardiner Conservation Committee, said garlic mustard, related to the mustard and cabbage families, can quickly crowd out native plants, killing some in the same growth areas.

"It can grow very aggressively in rich, moist, shady areas," Pied said Wednesday. "It can quickly become established along roadsides, stream banks and forest understory," which consists of the trees and other woody species that grow beneath the forest's canopy.

"This is a plant that needs to be dealt with before it gets too out of hand and destroys the few natural areas we have in the city."

The Conservation Committee has scheduled a meeting for 7 p.m. April 24 at the Gardiner Boys & Girls Club to educate the public about the invasive species.

Garlic mustard was first noticed in Gardiner in 2001. It likely has been around longer than that, Pied said.

The herb has many white flowers on the end of one or two stems. The triangular shaped, coarsely toothed leaves are two to three inches across. The plants ripen between mid-June and late September, and have a two-year life cycle.

Ann Gibbs, state horticulturist, said garlic mustard has been an issue in southern parts of the state but is slowly making its way north.

The garlic-mustard seed can spread by wind and horticultural trade.

"A lot of things have come in from Europe and Asia over the years," Gibbs said. "When it's removed from its natural site, where there's all sorts of checks and balances to stop it from taking over, the new spots don't have those natural controls in place."

She said it has to be pulled out of the ground before it goes to seed. The herb is biennial -- a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its life cycle -- so it doesn't flower until the second year.

The flowers appear in April and May. And that's when it should be pulled from the ground. By June, she said the plants are dead so it's hard to find them.

"People have to be careful and make sure that they dispose of it properly," she said. "They can't just pull it up and leave it lying there."

Garlic mustard will eventually dominate an area so no other plant has a chance to grow, she said.

Jason Simcock, director of planning and development for Gardiner, said members of the Conservation Committee have a lot of energy and that this is just one of the many projects they plan to tackle.

Dorothy Washburn, who also serves on the committee, said the group planted 5,000 tulips last fall and thinned out trees along Route 24.

Other invasive plants on the committee's hit list include purple loosestrife and Japanese barberry.

Dealing with invasive species is "one of our projects, to see if we can get this reduced to a point that maybe we eventually can get rid of it," Washburn said. "It will take over a whole section of town, and we don't need that."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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