USWildflowers Daily Plant 12/29/2012
Photo from 4/4/2010. Location: Walker County, GA
Ground Ivy, an introduced and possibly invasive species. For more photos and information go to the Glechoma hederacea detail page.
Ground Ivy, Gill-over-the-ground, Haymaids, Creeping Charlie – Glechoma hederacea
Also Daily Plant 10/21/2010, 12/29/2011
I love these tiny flowers
Mia – I like the flowers, too, but not the plant. When they first arrived in my yard a number of years ago, I thought “What a lovely flowering ground cover” and I made the mistake of letting it stay. Now it is trying to take over my entire yard. It puts down roots at the nodes, and so you’ve got to pull it carefully or you’ll leave little rooted pieces behind.
I am surprised that no one mentions the powerful, dank odor of this plant. It is one of the reasons I wish it were not so pervasive. Now, after years of pulling it out of every corner of my property, a whiff of the smell can make my heart sink, so strongly do I associate it with gardening frustrations!
I agree – it STINKS!
I’ve had it take over my entire yard in NE. It prefers the back yard in the shade, but will grow in the full sun of the front lawn also. Not wanting to use chemicals, we’ve had limited success with the method of mixing 1 cup salt into 1 gallon vinegar and spraying them. It doesn’t do the grass any favors. It killed about half the Creeping Charlie and some of the grass. You have to do repeated spraying every few weeks. Then overseed with new grass seed in the fall and spring. Rather harsh, but I haven’t found anything else that works except lawn weed chemicals.
I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with this particular ground cover. As far as a ‘real lawn’ goes, I don’t have much of one. I also live 50 yds from a good sized river, which takes everything and leaves a sandy mixture around every four years or so. This little ground ivy is the first to re-establish itself after these events, and I appreciate it. But after a while, I’ve had to pull up large stray patches. This is easiest to do on the warm days of winter, and early spring, before it gets too thick and healthy. Right now, it is one of two little ground covers blooming. This next snow will thin the ‘herd’.