Lisa

In our area the parks have initiated "clean up" days (0ne to be held next week) where interested parties gather together to remove and dispose of G.M.

I've collected G.M. (stinging nettle too) and eaten it like spinach or other greens. It's not bad and is a great way to use the plants you've pulled, not to mention giving some satisfaction of doing in these weeds.

On another note I read that if you pull 2nd year plants that are getting ready to flower be sure to destroy them as there is enough strength in the root and rest of the plant to set viable seed even after having been pulled.

To your original question. Provided you have permission of the land owner I see no moral problem with rescuing a few plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic mustard info and recipes

I guess I'd agree that collecting small numbers is probably fine. I know what you mean about the garlic mustard - just keeping my own yard free takes a tremendous effort, and there's a huge reservoir of plants just waiting to move in. I have moved some spring beauty myself for the same reason, as it was being outcompeted. So...as long as you only collect a portion of a stand, you're probably doing more good than harm.

Whenever I go birding I always rip out a few clumps of Garlic Mustard and Jap. Honeysuckle .I havent had the nerve to steal Trout Lily yet but there is alot of it where I work,tons of it, and I am tempted to take a clump home some day and plant it alond my woodland edge where I have cleared away all the Garlic Mustard and English Ivy .Probably not PC thou, and I'm pretty sure it's illeagal to do so.
stephen

If you have permission of the landowner to dig plants then it's perfectly legal, in fact even if the plant is federally endangered it's legal to dig from private property as long as you have permission and don't move plants across state lines.

Of course you originally asked about the moral implications, so, morally if an endangered plant were hanging off the side of a cliff and with the next rainfall would certainly fall into a chasm, saving it from doom IS the moral thing to do, isn't it? probably(in my opinion). Since you've made no mention of federal endangerment, then you're in good shape. I routinely collect plants along rivers that are literally about to fall in. Aren't they better off in someones garden than lost forever?

Laws and rules are intended to maintain order within a system.
However, when laws conflict with common sense and that little voice inside of me, I follow my conscience.
Peace, Rudy

Trout lily generally fights back pretty good adainst GM, but digging and moving some should be okay. Realize that most of them are sterile plants and not flower producers. I once tried to transplant some, (we called them dogtooth violets) and gave up after digging into the forrest loam for over 18 inches tracing back down the flower stem. I figured I couldn't plant them that deep anywhere else anyway.

Our biggest threat to Native plants is deer. I like to take a wildflower walk every spring in a beech wood area across the road from our house, In 25 years, over 3/4 of the native wildflowers and woodland perennials have vanished or become so rare that hours of hunting turns up only isolated plants. Woodlily, mediola, cohosh, geranium, and many others are nearly all gone. Azalea nudiflorum was common there, and I havent seen a bloom on one in over 5 years, although a few older plants survive.

George

I went back to the woods today. My impression is that mayapples and trout lilies are definitely decreased; and the GM is on the advance. Anemones and dutchman's breeches are still there though probably fewer and I will pull the GM around them. The mayapples I took a couple years ago have multiplied from 7 to 19 in one spot in my yard, and decreased from 5 to 3 in another where the deer get them, so there's more support for George's assertion.

My trout lilies are spreading but not blooming yet and I just discovered a little tiny dutchman's breeches among them - I must have gotten a seed or a root fragment when I got the lilies - what a pleasant surprise, because I was very leery of taking any.

Seems most folks think common sense and good results trump the law, in circumstances like these.

Lisa

Reserchers currently have several bossible insects to possibly ontrol garlic mustard under host specificity testing right now-
"Several infestations can be controlled by applying 1-2% active ingredient (a.i.) solution of glyphosate to the foliage of individual plants and dense patches during the late fall or early spring. At these times, most native plants are dormant, but garlic mustard is green and vulnerable. Glyphosate is a nonselective herbicide that will kill non-target plants if it comes into contact with them. Managers should exercise caution during application, and not spray so heavily that herbicide drips off the target species. Herbicide use is safest for native plants if done during the dormant season, as garlic mustard will grow as long as there is no snow cover and the temperature is greater than 35 degrees Fahrenheit. An early spring application of tricolopyr at a 1$ a.i. concentration in solution with water has been used, resulting in a 92% rosette mortality rate." - http://www.elmgrovewi.org/garlic_mustard.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: an overveiw of insects being considerd for possible biological control

I'll confess that I roundup the garlic mustard here once everything else is dormant, or before the natives emerge - it has the added benefit of also getting Japanese honeysuckle and akebia at the same time. As little as I like using chemicals, I simply can't keep up with this stuff otherwise. It has been making a big difference over the last few years, and some of the natives have been staging a comeback, although the spring beauty is struggling.

they probably just need time. Many are slow growing. Dont relax your viligence against the weed. Once the seedbank is exhausted, they'll probably be less annualy that youl need to take care of. of the garlic mustard, that is

I find that most of the garlic mustard in my yard is fairly resistant to round-up, the edges crisp a bit but the plant keeps going. Seedlings do die. Last year by mistake I got the round-up that has the other herbicide added in, and that was more effective. I am thinking of trying a higher concentration. And I cannot round-up the whole of the wild woods, alas.

Lisa

Hi , I live next to a National Forest. Whenever i feel some native plant is threatened ,in i go and very carefully transplant it to my acreage and put some back at a later date. I am morally obligated to wild life not NF
oakleif

Interesting discussion. How far east does garlic mustard encroach? What does it look like? I have wild onion on my property, and lots of horrible ground ivy choking out my lawn, but garlic mustard is a new one on me.
You're right to try and save the native plants, and to heck with the law, so long as you leave some where you found it. We started the whole mess by letting invasive species encroach in the first place, so it is morally right to save what we can. And as to the question 'is a native plant better off in a garden', let's see, um, widening expressways, cancerous urban sprawl and encroaching invasive species, or a gardener's TCL...that's a no-brainer!

nacnud, do a search on garlic mustard and learn what it looks like. I'm pretty sure they have it in Indiana. It is going to be one of the first green things you see in spring, with rosettes of round toothed leaves, grooved with veins. Then it will send up a stalk with clusters of small white cross-shaped flowers. It's pretty in a simple, fresh-looking way. And then it will throw out hundreds of seeds and they will all sprout. It will flower as a sturdy two-footer, or a wispy little three-incher if conditions dictate.

I thought it was pretty when it first showed up in my mother's yard.

Lisa

I just "googled" garlic mustard. Many, many pictures. Wow! am I glad that this thing is not in Eastern Canada. Does it need a warmer winter than ours?

I believe that leaving wildflower stands in peace is the moral thing to do unless the area is threatened by building or whatever.

Shapiro, we have it here and you & I are in the same zone so I don't think your winters have much to do with it. Hopefully it won't spread up your way.

Hi Lisa,

Sounds to me that the question is not really garlic mustard but when it is and is not moral to transplant woodland or other "less common" wildflowers. Is that correct?

I wrestle with this question alot this time of year. The legalities are kind of funny when you start applying them, since you can transplant even protected species from private land with permission, and it is illegal to remove ANYTHING from state or county or (whatever public) property. So the question becomes what is morally correct.

My way of thinking is that one should try to follow the purpose of the laws rather than the letter of the law. The purpose is to conserve and protect and proliferate native plants. I am surpised that few of the native plants I would expect to be protected are - and many that one would not expect to be protected are. But because we love native plants and want to work with, not against, nature, we care about preserving all of the native species, correct?

This is what I do. I never take more than one or two specimens of a species the first year. I wait to see if the transplant is successful. If it is I know that my transplant will most likely be successful. Therefore, since I know on my property it will be protected and will be able to spread then both at its original location and the new location, the action is working to the purpose of conservation.

I never take a specimin from an are where it is represented by only a few individuals. That has too much impact on that location or group.

If I know I may collect a specimen I have beds prepared in advance so that the time out of the earth is minimal and thus stress is as minimal as I can make it.

I do not dig up a plant unless I have the proper materials/tools to dig and transport it. I do not dig up a plant if I am not going to be going home to plant it soon after.

How "safe" a plant or species is in the location in question comes into play, but then that is hard to assess. Recently a state park with a wonderful population of native woodland plants plowed a good proportion of them down to make campsites. Safe is hard to assess.

Side note on the deer - the deer are native. We are not. The native plants and native animals have lived together in balance for thousands of years. If there is an imbalance now man has created it and it is up to man to rebalance it (and not by killing off native species so an invasive species can have more room to destroy nature).

PAX
Laurette

Here is a link that might be useful: New England Wildflower Society

There was a small stand of ohio spiderwort near me, along the side of a county road under some power/phone lines.
Last year the county ran a bulldozer along the roadside, I dont know why, and wiped out most of the spiderwort there.
I had made the decision to move some of the survivors to a safe place before the phone or electric company came along and sprayed under the power lines or the bulldozer returned.
I went by the other day with a shovel and buckets and "rescued" a few of the plants. While there, I spotted some wild crocus in the same site. I "saved" them also.
I do not know what laws govern this situation and dont care. My criteria is, what is the best for the plants in the long run.
Even though I am not 100% certain,chances are they would be destroyed where the stand. I made a decision . I will answer to The Man when it comes time to judge me.
Plus I add some really cool natives to my place.
Rudy

GM is a real problem here in Indiana. I was walking through a garden here in Muncie with native wildflowers and maintained by a professional gardener (Visit the Minnetrista Center!) and found sev areas of GM. I pulled a few.
My point: We are not going to save the world from GM, but we CAN do what we can do. Do what you can--pull them when you see them and dont give up.

I am a Park steward and veteran garlic mustard battler. It is never a good idea to remove anything from a woodland other than targeted Eurasian invasive species. Removing the native flora will only desecrate the woods furthur. You cannot replicate an ecosystem, and when you remove wildflowers, you are disturbing an entire chain of events, processes, soil conditions and the ground layer itself. What often happens to the wildflowers is that they aren't saved but put into zoo like situations that do not allow them to flourish as they would in their birthplace. You just can't replicate 10,000 years of a plant's history in dealing with a habitat, a climate, a type of soil and a certain hundred other interactions with it's environment.
Do not pick the "delicate" ones. Leave Trillium, trout lily systems growing from parent corms and Jacks alone. We cannot bring the woods into our yards unless the woods is our yard. Target the garlic mustard first. If you get tired of pulling just start hacking off leaves and flowers every chance you get with scissors etc. Each time you do this you at least weaken the plants possiblity of producing viable seed in copius amounts.

I was under the impression that it was illegal to dig up threatened or endangered plants regardless of the circumstance here in Michigan. Even if the plant is in clear danger if being killed by, say, hikers, draining a bog, bog drying up, or development, it is still illegal to dig it up. However, this thread dealt with the moral side.

And, since politics often makes laws which go against common sense, I might go on the side of caution and help a wild flower survive.

In summary, some people might take this attitude: "Save the plants! But don't get caught."

On the one hand, I' see no problem rescuing a plant from a bulldozer.

On the other hand, garlic mustard is hardly a bulldozer. Why not pick the weeds and leave the flowers. Organize a clean-up crew to harvest all the GM you can from your favorite woodland. Leave the delicate bloomers for everyone else to see.

Elena makes the best point, much as we want to, we cannot recreate the conditions mother nature gave those plants. Let them be or we're probably doing more harm than good.

My husband and I were just discussing this last weekend. He feels tremendously guilty that we bring things home from the roadside. I don't feel sorry for him though because he continues to do it so guilt without response really doesn't mean much to me. I on the other hand do not feel guilty so long as there is a large number of plants to carry on. Our government doesn't do much of anything as far as I'm concerned, to promote the preservation of our native species. I see so many contradictions. Our Ministry of Natural resources and Conservation Services does a lot of education but take a walk through any of the parks and you will see garlic mustard and Oriental bittersweet completely carpeting the woods choking out virtually all ground plants native to our area. The Oriental Bittersweet is so dense it's like a woven straw mat resting an inch off the ground farther than the eye can see and barely anything can grow up through it. Granted, clearing it out would be a long-term and likely endless task and tromping on the native plants that do somehow barely survive kinda sucks but leaving it there to finish everything off is no good either yet nobody does anything about it. What good does it do to protect the plants at the side of the road and allow alien invasives to destroy hundreds of thousands of acres at a time? Now we are seeing Oriental Bittersweet making it's way to the roadside ditches right along with the garlic mustard so I have no qualms at all of taking a plant here and there and rescuing it to my peaceful (murderous-alien-invasive-plant-free) woodland garden. I have a hard time with our Ontario government who makes themself look good by implementing hardline laws and regulations on such behaviors but has no intention of enforcing it. To me, it's all politics and appeasement. Here's an example:

This is the law here in Ontario for protection of endangered species of plants and the fines involved:

Summary conviction offence (less serious) :

Corporation a fine of up to $300,000 for each offence
Non-profit corporation  up to a $50,000 fine for each offence
Individual  up to a $50,000 fine and/ or a prison term of up to one year for each offence.

Indictable offence (more serious):

Corporation  up to a $1,000,000 fine for each offence
Non-profit corporation  up to a $250,000 fine for each offence
Individual  up to a $250,000 fine and/ or a prison term of up to five years for each offence.

Rather than (or in addition to) fining big corporations or individuals why not promote the planting of endangered species? Milkweed has been on the endangered list here in Ontario for as long as I can remember. I think it's decline is due to farm runoff (herbicide) killing it in it's natural habitat of lowlying, damp/wet land (ie. ditches). At any rate, the Monarch butterfly relies on this species and I've seen with my own eyes over the decades how the loss of milkweed has impacted the numbers of Monarch's we see here. Why not promote the growth of Milkweed on the vast achreage that industries always have that is completely unused and relegated to acres of mowed grass? Why not offer individual residents the opportunity to grow endangered species in their own yards, gardens and woodlots? Our government and ministries study the dwindling endangered species LITERALLY to the death rather than actually doing something about it. Depending on what webpage you read, the Ministry is currenly watching between 2 and 6 small plots of an endangered Trillium here in Ontario. Watching them die. Why not allow conservation and rehabilitation efforts by all kinds of individuals, groups, farmers, industry etc... across the province to try to save the plant, rather than just sit and watch it die out or be suffocated into extinction by alien invasives like the Oriental Bittersweet? But our government doesn't do this. In fact they make it almost impossible for people to get their hands on these kinds of plants. Thankfully a very few restoration centers are cropping up in recent years but they are few and far between and they have nothing to do with the government who actually holds the power AND the money to make a difference.

All the laws to protect plants look good on paper but it's not enforced, so what the heck good is it? I love it just as much as the "no dumping fine of up to 500,000 dollars" signs that have heaps of garbage and thrown away furnishings underneath them. It's political lipservice done to make lobby groups shut up.

That aside, my property and the surrounding woods are littered with the nasty alien-invasive Garlic Mustard. I have all but eradicated it in my fenced in property (it took 2 seasons to do it) but I don't bother with the rest of it outside my property. Eventually all that land will be sold off as residential lots. Until then I will just continue to pull it up as it comes along. I don't rescue plants from it but go in there in the fall and gather some berries from various plants to strew around my woodlot backyard.

It's a moral issue for sure and like I said, I'll likely get admonished for admitting to doing it but I still do dig up the odd roadside plant. I'd love to start a campaigne to work on the oriental bittersweet but I've come up against brick walls where 'certain unnamed' local groups are invovled.

Barb

I was so happy to see this discussion! My half-acre garden borders a 130-acre urban "wilderness" park. The park is underfunded and understaffed, and is losing the battle against honeysuckle, garlic mustard, and English ivy. Actually, it's not even trying to fight it. Over the seven years I have lived there, the park's wildflower population has been dramatically reduced, in numbers and in variety.

My garden DOES duplicate the conditions in which the wildflowers once grew, and already had many of them present. I have carefully "rescued" a few specimens (always only a few, and always from areas where they were either on the verge of disappearing or where there were still dense stands) and introduced them into my woodland garden, where I have managed to keep the GM in control. I brought three spindly phlox divaricata into the garden five years ago. They now carpet my garden in the spring and have actually self-seeded back into the park, although there is almost none left of the original park population.

I've only done this a few times (a marsh marigold, some ginger, creeping jenny, and the phlox) and have always felt a little guilty yet virtuous at the same time. The plants have all thrived in my garden, and are disappearing in the park EXCEPT for the part of the park that borders my garden. My garden already had sanguinaria, spring beauties, toothwort, May apples, and trout lilies, so I never "rescued" any of them, but they have also almost disappeared from the park while they flourish in my garden.

Illegal, but maybe I will have actually saved some of the park's population of natives for a day when the park's management decides to restore them, and finds it's too late.

i agree that we all should organize garlic mustard clean up days to work with the park districts. volunteer crews can sweep a fairly large area, fairly quickly. ask your local park district if they have such a program or would be interesting in working with you to set up a program.

one should'nt take any plants from public park land without specific permission.

I refrain from digging up anything not on my property, and sigh when I see something else disappear.

Fortunately, I live in an area which is filled with gardeners and garden organizations. There are annual and semi-annual clean ups on parklands and our natural parks are fairly well funded to continue the clean up effort. I have personally seen this work around an old railroad track which cut through an arboretum's property - almost all natives now, but they continue to remove the stuff that comes to visit.

I also buy natives, which I know everyone on this board does! In fact, I drove home from a Native Plant sale the other day with Mayapples, Trillium and bloodroot. While I was driving I passed patches of Mayapples and bloodroot on the side of the road!! Seemed silly to me that I bought what is growing right there, but disturbing a site is worse.

For me, when I make exceptions to my morals, then my morals keep eroding away - just like our natives.
But, I respect other's moral lines and would not pass judgment on anyone else.

I can't BELIEVE someone would dig up native plants from National forests and put them into their own yard. Good lord, that's ignorant and selfish, not to mention illegal. One is morally obligated to leave plants in national forests. Not take them for their own use. Those plants belong to ALL OF US.

Legally, I don't know. I know you're not allowed to collect from state park, but National Forests you may be allowed to, if you HAVE A LICENSE. This is definitely an ethical issue.

Garlic mustard is my chief weed here and I'm kept busy fighting it in the garden. In the woods it seems to do very badly because of shade. The real threat is deer who have eliminated most of the under-story shrubs and most of the wild flowers. And all the tree seedlings. Not jack-in-the-pulpit which they won't touch and that is spreading as a result. They are keeping the multiflora pretty well browsed back and I'm helping it along with round-up. I also round-up poison ivy where I see it - it may be native but that doesn't mean it can grow in my woods.

We definitely have garlic mustard here in eastern Ontario, but not a lot. We just bought a home in an older neighbourhood, and in a neglected part of our yard there are a few dozen garlic mustard blooming. I'll deal with them tomorrow. I've also identified garlic mustard at our rural property, but only isolated clusters, and I've dealt with them too. My enemy #1 is buckthorn, and that will be my lifetime battle on our 38 acres. I realize how lucky we are not to have as many invasives as further south - it must be so discouraging. I've even found buckthorn (and ten million norway maple seedlings) in our new yard.

I'm always tempted to hop out of my car and gather up wildflowers along the highways. One spot is the Indian turnpike in Oklahoma. I've been tempted but never have, however, there is so much of it, i can't see as it would hurt the ecology any, if i got brave enough to do it. It would be transporting across state lines, as i live in Alabama, so i'm to chicken to try. There is some beautiful stuff along that stretch of road, that i wouldn't mind in my yard.

good because 1) it doent belong to you, and ill bet 10$ you dont have premission either
2)if its in your yard that means the rest of us cant enjoy it, so dont be shelfish. let it be so others can enjoy it. IF everyone tried that thered be no 'beautifull stuff' left to enjoy. and 3) it hurts the ecology, even if you dont beleive it.

I think people who selfishly take things from national forests or other native areas for their own enjoyment (thethats its being over run withweeds ins NO excuse)deserves to be evermore cursed with a black thumb and to have any plant wither at their touch for such a crime.

The best way to obtain native plants for your own space is to grow them from seed. It is interesting and rewarding, but takes time. Another alternative is to purchase from a reputable grower.
I like to believe that each person can decide for themselves whether or not a plant in a given situation is threatened to a point that it would be more beneficial to move it than to leave it where it stands, whether it is in a park or on a roadside or any public property.
The other day I was collecting birdsfoot violet seed from a stand along a roadside. Along a 50 yard stretch of road I gathered a small handfull of seed and a larger bag full of broken beer bottles and fast food crap.
I drove a few miles more and witnessed a work crew working their way down the roadside tearing up the landscape to lay fiber optic cable to who knows where? Eventually everywhere I guess. I drove by a few days later and saw a crew with a big cannon type machine shooting straw and seed over the area they had torn up.I"ll bet they were not seeding back natives.
So, is it OK to destroy prairie remnants in the name of progress? Is it OK to move a plant that is imminent danger?
I dont need or trust some bureaucratic official making decisions for me. Each of us is capable of evaluating each situation and acting according to our conscience.

When you dig up a native plant, you have a)decreased the size of it's patch, and b)disturbed the soil, both of which let non-native plants proliferate faster and easier. In other words, you have sped up the demise of native flora. Exactly the opposite of your stated intention. This could easily be the subject of one of NBC's "The More You Know..." public service announcements (IF they did them for plants--LOL).

"I like to believe that each person can decide for themselves whether or not a plant in a given situation is threatened to a point that it would be more beneficial to move it than to leave it where it stands, whether it is in a park or on a roadside or any public property. "

A roadside is not punblic property.

I think it would be of interest that in many cases when only a single individual of a plant species exists that plant is left as undisturbed as possible and is propegated instead of moved, because even then moving the plant is not more beneficial (indeed, probably worse) to leavin it. Those singular individual plants in question are not, however ignored. By looking at that example, NO plant is 'threatened to a point that it would be more beneficial to move it than to leave it where it stands' unless imminent destruction in the near future is likely due to human activites. Therefore in almost any surcumstances leaving the plants is definatly the better option, but some site care such as checking and removing all weeds in the vicinity of the plants is vastly better than moving them. Also, if you cant do that site maitence (for example, not on your land)your probably not supposed to be moving plants from there anyway. Unless you have premission of course, preferably permission to maintain the site. A roadside planting is most likely secure, and with the wildflowers and garlic mustard, perirodic weeding in the imidiate vicinity of the plant population may be all that is required for the long-term presistance of that population. It is interesting to note that in certain curcumstances (for example, native wild plants transplanted to a neatly kept garden) the population of transplanted plants are unlikely to survive in the long-term because they may not reproduce. While the individual transplanted plants may survive, the establishment and long-term presistance of a self-supporting population in in doubt, altough it can and does happen, it might just as easily not because of many subtle variables affecting the growing site means establishment of said transplanted plants might be in unlikely. Without long-term presistance of a self-supporting population, it, in my mind atleast, not a resce in the sence that these plants have been removed from a population that probably needs all the individuals it it can get, and presistance in the wild is far more important, ecologicly speaking, than presistance in cultivation.

Note: the terms Establishment and self-supporting population does not just mean that the species sometimes reseeds itself, altough that is a important factor in the process.

In the case of this garlic mustard weeding within the viicinity of the plants on a regular basis would probably ensure theri survival in the short term, altough their long-term survival may be in doubt because, lets face it, you wont be there forever to weed. WHat might work is if you suceed in reducing garlic mustards population density in the area.

I'm kinda new here, and I guess I'm in the minority, but I'll voice my concern anyway.

Digging plants without permission is legally wrong for sure, and morally wrong IMO. Roadside or park plants are not yours for the taking, espeically via digging individuals out of a colony.

Some other things to consider: First, You may not be the only one doing the digging. You may justify it by saying to yourself that you're just going to take a few individuals. And the next person who digs from the same colony justifies it that way too. And so on. Soon, the colony is seriously impacted. Second: personally, I wouldn't dig ANYTHING that is near a stand of noxious weed. There's a pretty good chance you'll be taking home pieces of root or seeds of that noxious plant, along with the desirable plant. So you might introduce the undesirable into your yard. I guess that's garden karma. Third: natives can be darn difficult to successfully transplant. Some have huge root systems or need very specific conditions to survive. Are you sure you're not going to kill the desirable by removing it?

My suggestions would be: organize a clean-up committee for the GM or weed it yourself. Perhaps the county or city (whoever governs the area) does not realize the extent of the GM invasion.

Collect a bit of seed, a couple of cuttings (if that's legal in your area), or ID the plant and purchase seed/plants from a reputable grower locally. Please don't dig.

Nancy

I don't see why you just don't clean out the area within 10' of the endangered plants and see how they do. That is feasible, moral and legal (probably). And keep an eye on the natives to see what happens. I think that it is uncertain exactly what the effects of garlic mustard on all natives is, although we tend to presume it is not good. But I've been watching the woods near my house and think that some things survive along with garlic mustard just fine. And I clean out around colonies of natives when I find them. You should start by doing the same.

In short, I don't think you have enough information to make the act of stealing plants moral. You need to watch and see if, in fact, the natives are endangered and whether they can be saved short of thievery. And I am concerned that your motivation is more the desire to have some very lovely plants on your own property, rather than a well-founded fear that they will not survive.

Your first duty is to determine whether they are endangered. Your second is to use the least intrusive means to save them. And only then may you just take them for yourself.

That's nice that you have all those natives in your woods.... you must be in the west/northern part of the state.... I'd say cleaning up the garlic mustard would be the first priority .... it would be hard to do one's self or as stated by others maybe a charity could help. I think its not a bad idea to collect small amounts of the natives that are being choked out anyway.... Is garlic mustard one of those plants no other plants can live around though? I know its invasive but was wondering if it can coexist with other things..... I'd say take what is "abundant" and looks most at risk for being choked out. But leave some to see if it thrives..... maybe one day you could organize a group to rid the woods of the garlic mustard and replant the plants..... Just be sure to have enough room (and the right spot shade etc.) where the plants can thrive. :)