# How to grow garlic mustard: a native plant for shade

> Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata): a native biennial shade plant up to 90 cm. How to recognise and grow it, what it costs and what to do when it goes wrong.

Canonical: https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/grow-garlic-mustard
Last updated: 2026-09-28

*Alliaria petiolata*

![One group of flowering garlic mustard alone in a wood-chip bed before a wooden fence: upright stems with heart-shaped, toothed leaves and small clusters of white flowers](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/look-zonder-look-99a864e6.webp)

Published: 2026-09-28

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a native biennial, 15 to 90 centimetres
tall. In its first year it makes only a rosette of round leaves. Upright stems
with clusters of small white flowers follow in the second spring, from April to
June. A crushed leaf smells of garlic. To grow garlic mustard, give it light
shade and moist soil.

## Garlic mustard at a glance

| Feature | Garlic mustard |
| --- | --- |
| Height | 0.15 to 0.9 m |
| Spread | About 40 cm |
| Full grown after | 1 to 2 years |
| Sun | Partial shade to shade |
| Soil | Moist and fertile, often with lime |
| Water | Average: keep the soil moist |
| Maintenance | Low: no pruning needed |
| Flowers | April to June, white |
| For bees | Yes: nectar and pollen, April to June |
| Hay fever | Not or weakly allergenic |
| Leaves | Stay green: the rosette overwinters |
| Hardy | Yes |
| Native | Yes |
| Poisonous | No, as far as is known |
| Pricks or stings | No |
| Price, young | About €2.35 to €4.09 each, in a small pot |
| Price, grown | Not for sale |

- **Leaf**: all year
- **Flower**: April to June
- **Fruit**: June to August

![A round, kidney-shaped rosette leaf of garlic mustard on a long stalk, with a heart-shaped notch and a wavy, scalloped edge, above dark soil](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/look-zonder-look-leaf-fb4d2229.webp)
*Leaf*

![The top of a flowering garlic mustard stem: a small cluster of little white flowers with four petals around green buds, with toothed, heart-shaped leaves below](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/look-zonder-look-bloom-faf2cc3c.webp)
*Flower*

![The top of a garlic mustard stem in summer: long, thin green pods angled upwards on short stalks](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/look-zonder-look-fruit-e452076d.webp)
*Fruit*

## How do I recognise garlic mustard?

In the first year you see only a low ring of leaves close to the ground. These
leaves are kidney-shaped, with a rounded tip and a long stalk. A leaf rubbed
between your fingers smells of garlic or onion.

In the second year upright stems grow from the rosette, mostly without side
branches. The leaves on the stem are heart-shaped and pointed, with a wavy,
coarsely toothed edge. That leaf looks a little like a nettle leaf, but it is
smooth and hairless.

Clusters of white flowers, 3 to 6 millimetres across, sit at the top of the
stem. Each flower has four petals in the shape of a cross. The pods come next:
thin fruits 2 to 7 centimetres long. They angle upwards on short stalks.

The smell is close to that of [wild garlic](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/wild-garlic), but the
flower tells the two apart at once. Wild garlic has six white petals in a star,
gathered in a round head on a leafless stem. Its leaf is long, oval and pointed.

## Where does garlic mustard grow best?

Garlic mustard does best in partial shade or shade. Partial shade means the sun
shines directly on the spot for 3 to 6 hours a day around midsummer. The plant
likes moist soil that is rich in nutrients, nitrogen above all, and that often
contains lime. In the wild it grows along hedges, on woodland edges and beside
paths in deciduous woods.

Garlic mustard struggles in these spots:

- **A sunny bed on dry sand.** The plant prefers light shade and soil that stays
  moist.
- **Poor soil with no manure or fallen leaves.** Garlic mustard depends on soil
  full of nutrients and nitrogen.

In winter the leaves of the young rosettes stay green.

On planting day a plant from a small pot looks tiny. Place a group along the
hedge on a plan of your own plot, with the neighbouring houses to scale beside
it. The app draws the plant at a grown plant's width, not at pot size.

## Planting and caring for garlic mustard

Garlic mustard is sold as seed or as a young plant in a small pot. Sow the seed
outdoors, where the plants are to grow. Autumn is the best time for it, because
the seed needs the cold of winter before it germinates.

Keep about 40 centimetres between plants, the spread of a grown plant. For the
first few weeks the group looks a little thin as a result. In the first spring,
water when the weather stays dry for a while.

Pruning is not needed. After flowering, you choose what happens to the stems:

| When | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| End of June, if you want no seedlings | Cut off the spent stems before the pods split open |
| Summer and autumn, if you do want seedlings | Leave the stems until the seed falls out |

Many birds nest from March until the end of July. If you find a nest in the
hedge behind the plants while cutting, leave that spot alone until the young have fledged.

## Garlic mustard problems and what to do

**The first year brings no flowers.** A biennial works that way: garlic
mustard flowers only in its second spring.

**The plant dies in its second year.** Garlic mustard lives for just two years.
If you leave the stems, new rosettes come up from their seed.

**There are holes in the leaves or the pods.** Caterpillars have been feeding.
On this plant they can be caterpillars of white butterflies, such as the
green-veined white. If you want those butterflies in your garden, let the
caterpillars be.

**The leaves droop.** The soil has dried out too far. Give the plants water,
above all in a dry summer.

**Garlic mustard turns up all over the garden.** The plant seeds itself easily.
Pull up young rosettes where you do not want them. Alternatively, cut off the
stems before the pods split open. Seed in the soil stays viable for one to
five years.

> **Did you know?**
>
> In the US state of Minnesota, garlic mustard is a banned weed. Importing,
> selling or transporting it is illegal there. It arrived in Minnesota in the
> nineteenth century, probably as food or medicine.

## Which insects and birds use garlic mustard?

The orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) and the green-veined white (Pieris
napi) are butterflies that use garlic mustard as a host plant. The orange tip
lays its eggs on it and drinks nectar from the flowers. Its caterpillar eats
the flowers first and then the young pods, from mid-May to mid-June. For the
green-veined white, garlic mustard and cuckooflower are the main host plants.

Caterpillars of the large white, the small white and the garden carpet, a moth,
can also live on the plant. No bird that uses garlic mustard has been described
by name.

## Is garlic mustard poisonous or edible?

As far as is known, garlic mustard is not poisonous. The leaves have long been
used in salads and to flavour meat or fish.

The photos on this page were made with AI, based on real photos and descriptions of this plant.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is garlic mustard poisonous?

No, as far as is known garlic mustard is not poisonous. The young leaves are used in salads and to flavour meat or fish.

### How tall does garlic mustard grow?

In the second year the flowering stems reach 15 to 90 centimetres. In the first year the plant stays low, with only a rosette of round leaves.

### Does garlic mustard come back every year?

A single plant lives for two years and dies after flowering. If you leave the stems, garlic mustard seeds itself. New rosettes grow from that seed.

### How much sun does garlic mustard need?

Not much. Partial shade is enough: the sun shines directly on the spot for 3 to 6 hours a day around midsummer. The plant also grows in the shade under trees.

### Is garlic mustard good for butterflies?

Yes. The orange tip and the green-veined white use the plant as a host: their caterpillars feed on it. The orange tip also drinks nectar from the flowers.

## Sources

- [Duistermaat, Sparrius & Denters, Standaardlijst van de Nederlandse flora 2020 (Gorteria 43)](https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/1019223)
- [NDFF Verspreidingsatlas — Alliaria petiolata](https://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/0029)
- [NDFF Verspreidingsatlas — Allium ursinum (daslook)](https://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/0034)
- [Flora van Nederland — Look-zonder-look](https://www.floravannederland.nl/planten/look-zonder-look)
- [RHS — Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/41250/alliaria-petiolata/details)
- [RHS — Shade gardening (definities zon en schaduw)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=934)
- [PFAF — Alliaria petiolata](https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Alliaria+petiolata)
- [The Wildlife Trusts — Garlic mustard](https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/garlic-mustard)
- [Imkerpedia — Drachtplanten](https://www.imkerpedia.nl/wiki/index.php/Drachtplanten)
- [Pollennieuws / Flora van Nederland — Aandachtspunten hooikoorts vriendelijke tuin](https://www.pollennieuws.nl/post/?permalink=aandachtspunten-hooikoorts-vriendelijke-tuin)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Look-zonder-look (waardplant)](https://www.vlinderstichting.nl/plants/look-zonder-look/)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Oranjetipje](https://www.vlinderstichting.nl/vlinder/oranjetipje/)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Klein geaderd witje](https://www.vlinderstichting.nl/vlinder/klein-geaderd-witje/)
- [Vogelbescherming — Snoeien in het broedseizoen, mag dat?](https://www.vogelbescherming.nl/actueel/bericht/snoeien-in-het-broedseizoen-mag-dat)
- [Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — Garlic mustard](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/herbaceous/garlicmustard.html)
- [Tuincentrum Soontiëns — Alliaria petiolata (prijs)](https://tuincentrumsoontiens.nl/webshop/tuinplanten/inheemse-planten/inheemse-planten-stadsnatuur-producten/alliaria-petiolata/)
- [Ecoflora — Alliaria petiolata (prijs)](https://www.ecoflora.be/nl/alliaria-petiolata-look-zonder-look-1939)
- [Cruydt-Hoeck — Look-zonder-look (prijs)](https://www.cruydthoeck.nl/look-zonder-look-alliaria-petiolata)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Leaf: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20230707Alliaria_petiolata1.jpg)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Flower: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20150421Alliaria_petiolata1.jpg)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Fruit: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20160529Alliaria_petiolata.jpg)

## Read next

- [Wild garlic: where it grows, how to plant and recognise it](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/wild-garlic) - Wild garlic (Allium ursinum): a native bulb 20 to 40 cm tall with white star flowers from April to June. Where it grows, how to plant it and how to recognise it. (2026-09-27)
- [Lily of the valley: planting, care and poisonous berries](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/lily-of-the-valley) - Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is a native woodland plant 15 to 30 cm tall. Where it grows well, what it costs and which parts are poisonous. (2026-09-27)
- [Greater celandine: identifying, planting and care](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/greater-celandine) - Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) is a native perennial 30 to 90 cm tall with yellow flowers and orange sap. How to identify, plant and care for it. (2026-09-28)
- [More about shade and woodland edge](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/category/plants/vaste-planten/schaduw-en-bos)