We have plant bullies at House In the Wood. These are plants that if we let them, they would take over the whole place and NOTHING else would be able to grow. We would lose all of our beautiful Spring Wildflowers. They are also known as INVASIVE plants. One of the plants that we are working on with Rowe third graders is the GARLIC MUSTARD.
This plant must be pulled out at its root BEFORE it seeds so that it doesn't spread. And then, it can't be put in the compost pile, it must be thrown in the garbage or it will spread its seeds and make many more plants. Part of the CONSERVATION lesson with the third graders is learning to identify and pull these nasty plant bullies. And of course, they learn why it is important to make sure we have diversity in our forest. Ask a third grader AFTER they have been to House In The Wood and see if they know the answer.
The picture below is in one of the places that THIS year's third graders will pull garlic mustard. The different plants in the picture are all wildflowers. All of the different wildflowers would be gone in a few years if our third graders don't help our conservation efforts by pulling garlic mustard--our plant bullies. The garlic mustard would crowd out the other plants until JUST garlic mustard is growing.
Do you see the garlic mustard?
See if you can tell how many different wildflowers are in this picture.
Remember look for the different types of leaves--they will all bloom as different flowers.
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