Terry L. Ettinger Horticulture Consulting Services
Meeting The Needs Of Today With A Vision For The Future
Special Topics
Worst Weeds in Landscape Plantings
Japanese Knotweed/Bamboo -
Polygonum cuspidatum
Native to Japan, China and parts of Korea, the
hollow, bamboo-like shoots of Japanese knotweed or bamboo, at right, sprout from the ground and grow eight
to ten feet tall before bearing clusters of creamy-white flowers in mid– to late August,
below left!
Introduce to North America as a fast-growing, late summer-flowering ornamental plant before 1890, its rhizomes have been reported to send up shoots more than fifty feet away from a main crown. In addition, rhizome pieces weighing no more than one-quarter of an ounce can send up new shoots.
As
with the other weeds featured here, the vigor and reproductive
capacity of this plant’s rhizomes makes it very difficult to control
- especially when infestations straddle property lines.