Re: fallopia japonica 'variegata'
I've read over the last week or so the comments on Purple Loosetrife and
noted the concern expressed in US gardening circles re the proposed control
of imports of seeds etc. I started selling seeds to North America 4 years
ago and went to the lengths of checking out the Federal Noxious Weed Acts to
try and avoid sending prohibited material. I'd like to think that other
suppliers take the same precautions.
I find it horrendous that nurseries over there are actually selling Fallopia
japonica/Polygonum japonicum - Japanese Knotweed. This thug makes Purple
Loosetrife look like a little old lady. It will come up thro a couple of
inches of concrete, thrives if you cover it with bitumen and can take three
or four years of regular doses of Roundup to wear it down. There were plans
released in the last few weeks to try and pinpoint all known locations of
this weed and there may be UK Govt funding to help irradiate it.
The best advice I can give for your plant is to destroy it by incinerating
all traces of it, anything else would only create a problem elsewhere. It
may be that some will say that the variegata is not invasive, the same thing
was said about the variegata form of Bishop Weed - Aegopodium podagraria but
it soon reverted back and lost its variegation. It's not worth the risk.
Sorry to paint such a bleak picture but it is possible the worst of the
gardening thugs.
Duncan McDougall
Compass Seeds/The Seed Guild
www.compass-seeds.com
Scotland
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