Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea)

I have a lot of (what I call) Creeping Charlie comming in around my fruit trees.

I checked it’s potential uses on quick internet search and was surprised to find how many uses there are- especially medicinal.

I’m on the fence about whether or not to remove and replace it with a different ground cover.

Has anyone used this plant, or currently making use of it? What was/is your experience like?

The stuff will take over, but if you need a good ground cover and don't mind its scent maybe it is the ticket!  Just don't try to get rid of it later!

I like this plant a lot!

It came in here with some plant exchange plants and stayed and has spread quite nicely around my blueberries, iris, lovage, echinacea, peach trees....everything in a long wide border of the front yard.  Perennial plants seem to push up through it just fine but I don't think I would try to plant anything from seed there unless I pulled a good bit of it from the area...and then the bermuda grass would move in.

I'm planning to spread it further...not sure if it would get along with comfrey? And I think it wouldn't work well with strawberries as they are so low to the ground.

It's pretty as a ground cover, nice flowers, good smell and apparently, as you learned, good in a salad, dried and medicinally for several things.

The most important benefit for us is that it seems to hold it's own against bermuda grass and that alone would be enough for me to let it roam where it wants.  

So this is the first year it has really expanded from its initial volunteer establishment late last year. I have comfrey under a few fruit trees and they do not seem bothered by eachother. The creeping Charlie stays a little further away from the comfrey, no complaints about that. I’m seeing a lot of the wild strawberries that had established themselves lose ground though.

I was pretty worried about the bergamot’s ability to come back in a meaningful way. I just started to see sprouts yesterday coming up within the thickest of the creeping charlie. I really like bergamot, so the ability for the two to cooperate will probably determine the fate of the creeping Charlie.

I had planned on bringing violets in as a ground cover this spring, but I am slowly being convinced that they will not be able to do battle with the stubborn grasses as effectively as this creeper. Perhaps the violets are best left to spread out in the woods and my labor best focused on other things.

I also love this plant. It's the most well-behaved pathway groundcover in our garden. Yes, it does creep a bit but its shallow root system means it's easy to rake back to keep it in bounds, unlike white Dutch clover. The bees love it in the spring, so we don't mow our paths until it's done flowering. I have moved some of it around to new areas. As much as I like this plant I don't let it into the strawberries, onions, or carrots - too much competition. It's welcome almost everywhere else.

Sounds like a decent, strong, little buddy to keep around!


How about for medicinal use, have you harvested for that purpose? What did you do with it, and how were the effects/ side effects?

How about for medicinal use, have you harvested for that purpose? What did you do with it, and how were the effects/ side effects?

We have just now tasted it, a few leaves and we both like the flavor.  Ours has just finished blooming and I expect before bloom is better for salad and while blooming medicinally?

I'm anxious to research it's medicinal uses some more...good for colds, respiratory ailments as tea...sounds like a good one to have on hand.

I saw a bit about drying for later culinary uses.

There's another thread about it here somewhere, William Bronson's I believe?  Maybe more uses described there if I can find it.

There's a whole page of 'creeping charlies' here    

https://permies.com/forums/jforum?module=search&action=search&forum_id=9&search_keywords=Creeping+Charlie&match_type=all&search_in=SUBJECT&forum=&forum=9&groupByTopic=true&sort_by=time&sort_dir=DESC&search_date=ALL&member_number=&member_first_name=&member_last_name=&member_match_type=memberPosted

Sorry the url is so long...my tablet doesn't let me use the 'url' button to shorten.