Creeping charlie is the low, mat-forming weed that turns thin, shady lawns into a carpet of round scalloped leaves and tiny purple flowers. Botanically it is Glechoma hederacea, also called ground ivy, gill-over-the-ground, alehoof, or cat’s foot, and it is one of the most frustrating broadleaf weeds in North American yards because every piece you leave behind can root and start over. The good news is that it is beatable. Identify it correctly, fix the lawn conditions that invited it in, pull or rake small patches, and save a triclopyr-based broadleaf herbicide for a fall application. Skip the borax myth entirely. Here is how to tell creeping charlie apart from its look-alikes and clear it out for good.
How to identify creeping charlie
Creeping charlie gives itself away with a short checklist of features. Run through all of them before you treat anything, because a couple of harmless plants look similar and you do not want to spray the wrong thing.
- Square stems. Roll a stem between your fingers and you will feel four distinct sides. This is the signature of the mint family (Lamiaceae), and round-stemmed look-alikes are something else.
- Round, scalloped leaves. Leaves are rounded to kidney-shaped with blunt, scalloped (toothed) margins and grow in opposite pairs along the stem. Veins fan out (palmate) from the leaf base.
- A minty smell when crushed. Tear or mow a patch and you get a sharp, minty, slightly bitter aroma. This is the single fastest confirmation in the field.
- Small purple flowers. From early spring into early summer (roughly April through June), creeping charlie produces small, funnel-shaped, bluish-purple tubular flowers in clusters of two or more where the leaves meet the stem.
- Mat-forming, rooting stolons. Above-ground stems called stolons crawl horizontally and root at the nodes wherever they touch soil. That is why a patch spreads outward in a dense, evergreen mat 1 to 3 feet across rather than as scattered individual plants.
Plants that get mistaken for creeping charlie
A few weeds are confused with ground ivy, and the differences matter before you reach for an herbicide:
- Creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) has round leaves with smooth (not scalloped) edges and yellow flowers, not purple.
- Common mallow (Malva neglecta) does not spread by runners that root at the nodes and lacks the minty scent.
- Henbit and purple deadnettle (Lamium species) are also square-stemmed mints with purplish flowers, but they are upright winter annuals rather than ground-hugging perennial mats, and they pull out cleanly without the rooting runners.
- Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) shares the square stem but has more oblong, less scalloped leaves.
If the plant has square stems, round scalloped leaves, a minty smell, and roots at the nodes, you are dealing with creeping charlie.
Why creeping charlie takes over a lawn
Creeping charlie is not a random invader. It moves in where turfgrass is already struggling, which is the most important thing to understand about controlling it: the weed is a symptom as much as a problem. Large mats are a reliable signal of one or more of these conditions:
- Shade. Ground ivy thrives in the dappled shade under trees and shrubs where lawn grasses thin out and weaken. Grass in shade is simply less competitive.
- Moisture and poor drainage. Damp, poorly drained soil suits it perfectly. Overwatered lawns and low, soggy spots are classic hot spots.
- Compacted, low-fertility soil. Heavy, compacted ground that chokes grass roots gives this tough perennial an opening.
- Thin or bare turf. Any gap in the lawn is an invitation. Once a stolon roots in that gap, it spreads outward fast.
It spreads two ways, which is what makes it so persistent. Primarily it creeps by stolons that root at every node, so a single plant becomes a wide mat in one season. It also produces seed, with roughly four flattened seeds per flower, letting it jump to new areas. Ground ivy is also suspected of being mildly allelopathic, releasing compounds that suppress the growth of nearby plants and helping it outcompete the grass you actually want. Because any fragment of stem or root left in the soil can regrow, breaking up a patch without removing every piece often just multiplies it.
Fix the lawn first, then attack the weed
Because creeping charlie exploits weak turf, the most durable control is a thick, vigorous lawn that leaves it no room. Cultural fixes are not the slow, optional step; they are what keeps the weed from coming straight back after you pull or spray.
- Thicken the lawn. Overseed thin and bare areas with a grass suited to your site, and feed the lawn on a sound program. A reasonable target is 3 to 4 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per year for a cool-season lawn, split across spring and fall feedings. Vigorous, dense grass crowds creeping charlie out.
- Mow high and mow often. Taller grass shades the soil surface and starves low-growing weeds of light. Keep the mower blade sharp and avoid scalping.
- Improve light. Prune and thin tree canopies to let more sun reach the lawn. The more shade you remove, the harder it is for ground ivy to dominate.
- Improve drainage and reduce watering. Core-aerate compacted soil, fix soggy low spots, and stop overwatering. About an inch of water a week is plenty for most lawns; constant moisture favors the weed.
- In deep shade, change the plan. Where grass will never thrive, stop fighting it. Plant shade-tolerant groundcovers or shade plants, or mulch the bed. Some gardeners even let ground ivy serve as a living groundcover in spots where nothing else will grow and it cannot escape into the lawn.
In garden beds, the equivalent of “thicken the lawn” is to keep clean, weed-free borders and a layer of mulch so stolons cannot creep back in from adjacent lawn or fence lines.
Removing creeping charlie by hand
For small, young patches, hand-pulling and raking work, but only with persistence. The trick is to get everything.
Work after a soaking rain or a deep watering, when the soil is loose and the rooted stolons lift more cleanly. Pull slowly to draw up the runners, then dig out the roots and rake the bed to collect stray fragments. Leave no leaf, stem, or root behind, because each one can re-root. Bag the debris and remove it; do not compost live stolons or toss them on a brush pile where they can take hold again.
Then keep going. A single pass almost never finishes the job. Return every time new sprigs appear and remove them on sight, through the rest of the season and often into the next. Gardeners who stay consistent for a couple of seasons can exhaust a small infestation; the failures are almost always from giving up after one weekend. Wearing gloves is sensible, since a minority of people find ground ivy irritating to handle.
Hand removal is also the right first choice inside flower and vegetable beds, where selective lawn herbicides cannot be used safely.
The right chemical control for creeping charlie
When a patch is too large to dig, a selective broadleaf herbicide is the effective tool, and timing matters more than almost anything else.
Choose triclopyr. Of the common broadleaf herbicide active ingredients (2,4-D, MCPP/mecoprop, dicamba, and triclopyr), triclopyr is the most consistently effective on ground ivy. Many products combine two or three of these actives, which improves results because creeping charlie populations vary in how sensitive they are; one patch may shrug off 2,4-D while another succumbs to it. A three-way combination, or a triclopyr product, hedges against that variability. Triclopyr is sold in several consumer lawn-weed products; read the label to confirm ground ivy is listed and that the product is cleared for your lawn type.
Spray in fall. Late September through early November is the prime window. In autumn the plant pulls nutrients down into its roots for winter, and it carries the herbicide along with them, killing it from the root rather than just burning the top. Spring applications are noticeably less reliable. Plan on two applications: the first in late September or early October, the second about a month later. If you must treat in spring or summer while it is blooming, expect to repeat the application more times for less payoff.
Apply it correctly. Treat on a calm day with cool, mild temperatures (around 70°F / 21°C is ideal) to avoid drift and volatility. Spray after mowing has let the weed put out fresh growth, and give it a few days before the next mow so the chemical can move into the plant. If you have used the same single product for years, rotate to a different active ingredient, since repeated use of one chemistry loses bite over time.
In garden beds, do not broadcast a selective lawn herbicide, because it will damage your flowers and vegetables too. For stubborn ground ivy among ornamentals, use a non-selective herbicide only as a careful spot treatment, shielding desirable plants with a bucket or board, applying on a windless day, or wiping the product onto the weed’s leaves with a sponge so nothing else is touched.
Why the borax home remedy does not work
The internet is full of recipes for killing creeping charlie with borax (sodium borate) dissolved in water, on the theory that ground ivy is unusually sensitive to boron. Do not use it. The borax remedy is unreliable, hard to dose, and capable of poisoning your soil.
The myth traces to a small Iowa State University study in the early 1990s that showed some promise. But when the University of Wisconsin ran a similar trial, it could not reproduce the results. Effectiveness turned out to depend heavily on soil pH, soil type, and dose, which is exactly why it works for one person’s lawn and does nothing on the next. There is no dependable formula.
The bigger problem is what borax does to the ground. Boron does not break down or wash through the soil the way many fertilizers do; it stays put and accumulates. Get the dose even slightly high and it builds into a toxic “hot spot” where nothing will grow, grass included, often forcing you to reseed bare patches. Boron is also harmful to other plants and to the wider environment in quantity. Trading a weed problem for sterile, dead soil is a bad deal. Cultural fixes plus a properly timed triclopyr application are both safer and more effective.
Is creeping charlie edible or medicinal?
Yes, with real caution. Ground ivy has a long foraging and folk-medicine history, which is part of why European settlers carried it to North America in the first place. The leaves, shoots, and flowers are edible. They carry a pungent, minty, somewhat bitter flavor and are best harvested young, when they are mildest. Foragers use them fresh in small amounts in salads and dressings, cook them like spinach, or dry them for tea. Centuries ago, before hops were common in England, ground ivy flavored and clarified ale, which is the origin of the name “alehoof.”
Medicinally, it was a traditional remedy for coughs, colds, congestion, ear and respiratory complaints, inflammation, and minor wounds, and some lab work suggests its essential oil has anti-inflammatory properties. None of that is a green light to self-medicate. Ground ivy contains aromatic compounds related to those in pennyroyal, so it is wise to use it only in moderation and to avoid it during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Treat any medicinal use as something to discuss with a qualified herbalist or physician first.
Creeping charlie is toxic to horses
This is the part casual foragers and pasture owners need to take seriously. Ground ivy is toxic to horses, both as fresh growth in a pasture and dried in hay, so curing it does not make it safe. Horses that eat a large quantity may drool and sweat heavily, develop dilated pupils, and pant or breathe as if over-stimulated. It is a genuine risk to grazing livestock, which is one reason ground ivy is treated as more than a cosmetic nuisance on farms. It can also make cattle and household pets ill if they eat enough. If you keep horses, control ground ivy in and around pastures and keep it out of hay, and do not rely on its foraging reputation as a sign that it is harmless to animals.
Staying ahead of creeping charlie
Clearing creeping charlie is rarely a one-and-done job, and that is normal for a perennial that roots at every node. The lasting result comes from doing two things together: removing or spraying the existing weed, and fixing the shade, drainage, compaction, and thin turf that let it in. Keep the lawn dense and mowed high, treat in fall when it is most vulnerable, pull stray runners the moment they reappear, and leave the borax in the laundry room. Stay with it for a season or two and the carpet of purple flowers becomes a thick, weed-resistant lawn instead.