Ground Ivy or Creeping Charlie

Creeping Charlie has a minty smell when mowed or crushed. It is edible - some enjoy it in salads - and used in alternative medicines.

Found in lawns throughout the United States. It grows well in shady areas and thrives in cool weather. In some parts of the mid-west, it is considered to be the most common and difficult lawn weed to control.

It is a spreading perennial that is often misidentified as Common Mallow and Henbit.

Hand Weeding - This is a very difficult weed to pull because it roots along the nodes...breaking off and then re-growing. Creeping Charlie usually wins this battle.

Chemical Control - The best time to control creeping charlie with a broadleaf herbicide is fall and in the spring - when it is flowering. Combination products of 2,4-D, dicamba and MCPP/MCPA work better than 2,4-D alone. Triclopyr-based products are even more effective than 2,4-D products.

Characteristics:

• Winter perennial
• Bright green, round, kidney-shaped leaves on long petioles with round scalloped edges
• Square, creeping stems that root at nodes
• Bluish-purple flowers
• Fibrous root system
• Has a minty smell when mowed
  

Weed Identification

Leaves - Arranged opposite along the stem on long petioles, round to kidney-shaped. They are dark green and sometimes tinted purple. The leaf margins have large rounded teeth.

Stems - Square stems that root at the nodes.

Roots - Fibrous root system.

The blue to violet flowers appear in May. They occur in clusters of three and are 3/8 to 5/16 inch long.