maintenance companies and a nightmare on poorly managed sites.
This new found interest in ‘natural’ landscapes was seized upon by landowners as a perfect excuse to reduce their weed control budgets and save money on grass cutting costs….with serious consequences. What most ‘natural landscape lovers’ didn’t realise was that if you stop maintaining your landscaped areas – it isn’t the wildflowers that thrive – it’s those plants designed to out compete our native species that will take over.
Many areas away from the watchful eye of the maintenance teams were abandoned to what were deemed ‘wild’ or ‘natural’ – the reality was more ‘unnatural’ with a massive boom in the spread of invasive species. Huge swathes of Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan balsam have spread and established to such an extent that many believe that these plants are actually ‘native’.
My personal theory is that it is down to landowners simply not looking at what has been happening. Most people are inexperienced in identifying plants, and take a very simplistic view – if it’s green or has flowers – then its ‘natural’. Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam are not unattractive plants during their growing period between April and October – both have attractive flowers and lush foliage – but both will grow to the preclusion of all of our native species.
So if we can understand why these plants have spread and why they have been allowed to gain a foothold in our landscape – should we be as fearful as the scaremongers suggest? Well to a certain extent the answer has to be a resounding ‘YES’.
We ignore these species at our peril. Negligence is these plants’ greatest ally, they rely on the fact that we aren’t looking , they rely on sneaking up on our bits of open ground that nobody cares about – then they take over!
Open your eyes, learn to know what plants are a problem, learn to understand how these plants spread and how they expand and learn that their only ambition is… total domination! I believe that most people walk around with their eyes closed, oblivious to the insidious spread of the non-native species. From a practical home owner point of view, you need to be vocal.
If you are aware that Japanese Knotweed is in your local area, don’t wait till it’s on your doorstep….ring the local authority, ring
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the landowner – make yourself a nuisance! It’s only by constant vigilance and repeated phone calls that anything will get sorted with Invasive Non-Native Species – you need to be the eyes and voice of the local community, our native species can’t speak for themselves – THEY NEED YOU TO BE AWARE. These plants will spread rapidly and can quickly dominate any area in which they get a foothold.
If Japanese Knotweed has already established itself in your vicinity then find out who is the landowner. Knotweed has the ability to grow at a rate of roughly 7 meters in all directions and will continue to expand and spread exponentially until stopped - either by some form of physical containment or by intervention from man.
Arguments will often ensue as to where the plant has originated from - thus one of the most effective precautions you can take as a home owner is to plot where the plant has been spotted. Get some professional advice or simply take a tape measure and plot the position and distance the plant is from your property. The following year carry out the same exercise and you will quickly get an idea of how rapidly the plant is heading in your direction.
Whilst carrying out your survey you should also be trying to find the owner of the land and advise them that if Japanese Knotweed breaches the boundary of your property you will be taking legal action and using the measurements taken over previous seasons as proof of the origin of the infestation.
With a few simple measurements and photographs all the arguing can be sidestepped – it’s a slam dunk and a legal victory – costs would be awarded for restoring your property and removing the infestation.
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