It is believed that the seeds hitch rides on the fur of animals like deer, horses, and squirrels. Eventually, they drop off and start new colonies of garlic mustard. People and flowing water can also help this invader spread. The plant flowers from May through early June. Fruits begin to ripen in mid-July and are spread through August.
Garlic mustard is a rapidly spreading woodland weed.
Once it gets going it takes over the plants on the forest floor and can take the place of most native wildflower plants within 10 years. Take control of this alien For small groups of mustard plants, you can control them by hand pulling at or just before they flower or by cutting the flower stalk as close to the ground as possible just as flowering begins. This keeps the plant from producing seed, and kills the plant itself. If you cut before this, the plant can re-sprout. If you pull by hand, the upper half of the root must be removed in order to stop buds at the root crown from sending up new flower stalks.