SALISBURY — Wild garlic, often confused as wild onion, is a
foul-smelling weed almost instantly appearing in lawns
throughout Rowan County. I have a decent crop already, even
though we've had a fairly harsh winter. The weed is easily
identified as blue-green tufts within dotting yellow-brown
winter lawns. Wild garlic Allium vineale is actually a member of
the lily family, a close cousin to edible garlic and onions. It
is a cool season, perennial weed that literally jumps out of the
ground as the soil temperature warms in the spring. The
cylindrical leaves of the weed are waxy, bluish-green and
hollow. Underground bulbs bear bulblets which tend to be flat on
one side. Wild garlic reproduces by seed, aerial bulblets and
underground bulblets. This may explain why the plant is so
prolific and difficult to eliminate. To make the situation more
confusing, wild onion is often found on the same sites as wild
garlic. You can distinguish the two by looking at the roots.
Wild onion does not produce offset bulblets. Some