Photo 1 is violets

Photo 2 is creeping charlie

photo 3 looks like ajuga to me, but I'm not sure

Photo 4 is Garlic Mustard, which is on the list of Massachusetts Invasive Plants

You should dig up all the violets, put them in a large black trash bag. Then call me, and I will come pick them up. I use violets as a ground cover all over the back of my property where the conservation commission tells me I can't mow.

Creeping Charlie is one of the hardest plants to eradicate. Every place part of the plant touches the ground, it re-roots. And if you try to pull it, every little root you leave will grow into a new plant. I googled it recently and only found 1 herbicide that claims to be able to kill it off. Round Up doesn't work. I personally have decided to live with it.

Ajuga isn't much of a problem in my yard, so I have igonred it thus far.

Garlic Mustard is invasive. You need to hand pull before the flowers go to seed. I pulled a ton 3 years ago, had a bit more to pull last year, and have only found 1 or 2 plants to pull this year. Do NOT throw it in your compost.

Thanks pixie ..

I was hoping that I don't have to get on my knees and pull out those violets.. (There are just too many in the 6000 sq ft area) But If I did, I will remember to ask you to come and pick up :) Or you are welcome to take those away yourself right out of the ground :) )

I have to find some broadleaf killer for those two, violets and creeping charlie

I can take care of garlic mustard the quickest .. So will do that over the weekend.

I agree with pixie lou on 1, 2, and 4. Not sure about 3...

Dee

I agree on 1 and 4, and I think that 2 and 3 are the same plant. It's not what I call creeping charlie which has single leaves (though similarly scalloped) while this looks like they are in opposite pairs and I think are a member of the mint family (square stems and lipped purple flowers.) I have it in my lawn but don't know a name for it.

Be vigilant with the garlic mustard, because tiny plants can flower and set seed, all through the season. It IS satisfying to pull up, though!

The american lawns web site has specific information of how to eradicate violets and creeping charlie

for violets
http://www.american-lawns.com/problems/weeds/violets.html

for creeping charlie
http://www.american-lawns.com/problems/weeds/ground_ivy.html

I also think 2&3 are the same.

Violets are hard to get rid of. I've had pretty good luck with Ortho Weed B Gon containing triclopyr. Repeat application in about 10 days.

*If* photo 3 is ajuga, like I think it is - it will bloom different than the creeping charlie. Ajuga makes a spiky type of bloom that blooms straight up from the leaves. It tends to be a purpley blue flower. The creeping charlie, the flowers tumble flat along the ground like the leaves. The foliage of ajuga doesn't travel along the ground like creeping charlie. Ajuga sends out runner root, whereupon new plants come up.

To get rid of ajuga, hand pulling if pretty effective. Believe it or not, people actually buy ajuga for their gardens since it is an effective ground cover. The downside it that it tends to spread spread spread. Ajuga doesn't show up on many weed lists.

Thanks all. I will look for the bloom on ajuga. All violets have already bloomed .. but creeping charlie seems to be just starting to bloom

I keep reading .. remove weeds before they seed. So when do they seed? How to determine that?

Also starting a new thread with four more photos of other plants .. (Didn't want to make one thread photo heavy)

Typically the plants flower, and then the flowers turn to seed. With weeds I'm trying to eliminate from my yard (mainly dandelion and plantain), I go out daily and pull the plants I see. I try not to even let them get to flowering stage.

My wife loves violets. I've been accused of systematically driving them away. How? I fertilized. No weed killer, just straight lawn fertilizer. It also drove out the dandelions. Go figure.

I love violets too. They are native, very pretty in the Spring, and Viola species are the larval host plant for Fritillary butterflies.

However they're pesky, and I don't like them in the lawn either, and usually hand dig the few that are there. But I do let them grow and spread around in the "wild" garden in the back with a few nice ones in the woodland gardens.

If you have way too many to hand pull, you might have some success with Ortho's Weed-B-Gone on the broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Although I think Triclopyr needs to be used during the growing season and it is a somewhat more toxic herbicide than round up.

Garlic mustard is extremely invasive. It is biennial and makes a little clump of foliage the first year, then flowers the 2nd year. It's important to remove before flowering. Each plant makes thousands of seeds and they persist for years. The flowers and seeds can continue to mature after being pulled, so if they are flowering I would dispose in the garbage, or you could put the weeds in clear (for increased solar gain) plastic bags in the sun and let them roast. :)