I fell in love with Fallopia’s variegated leaves. The white splotches on bright green were irresistible. I put it in a featured location so I could see it from all angles.
The red twigs, with bright white and green are gorgeous in any light. I loved its tiny, white, aromatic blooms covered in bees during June.
I did not know I had allowed in a menace for several years. The first problem was the Japanese Beetles. They prefer these leaves to any other plant in my garden. I do not like to provide food for pest, as you know. So each summer when the beetles arrived I simply chopped down the stems and burned them.
But the something else occurred. I kept finding those beloved leaves in miniature away from the parent plant. Further and further away. I put the parent plant in a pot and buried it. This has slowed down the appearance of escapees.
If you look up Fallopia japonica ‘Variegata’/Japanese Knotweed. You will see it is a menace in the south. A gorgeous menace.
FLOW didn’t know!
floweralley 