On Feb 8, 6:14*pm, "David E. Ross" wrote:
On 2/8/12 1:18 PM, John Simpson wrote:
If you're in MD, your 'bamboo' is most likely Japanese Knotweed.
It's REAL tough to get rid of!
JAS
Both Wikipedia and Sunset's "Western Garden Book" indicate that Japanese
knotweed is Persicaria capitata. *This is a ground cover that, in my
garden, forms a mat about 6 inches thick. *Through most (sometimes all)
of the year, it has small clusters of pink flowers that resemble the
flowers of white clover. *For that reason, P. capitata is also called
pink clover although it is definitely not a clover at all.
However, Wikipedia also indicates that Japanese knotweed is also
Fallopia japonica (aka, Polygonum cuspidatum or Reynoutria japonica).
This indeed grows like a bamboo to 10 or more feet high. *If this is
really what Elliott P has, a grass-specific herbicide will not work
because Fallopia japonica is not at all a grass.
All this illustrates the fact that many different, unlike plants often
share the same common name. *This is why I try to use botanical names
when possible. *This also illustrates why the plant should be positively
identified before any attempt to eradicate it. *If a neighbor was
correct in reporting that this was cut for feeding pandas at a nearby
zoo, however, this must be a bamboo and not F. japonica.
--
David E. Ross
Climate: *California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary
David and others,
I uploaded several pictures I happen to have of the questionable
plants to my Dropbox account. You can see the gallery he
http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/27454...amboo?h=d5ab39
I took these before posting this, therefore I don't have any close ups
of the leaves really. The first shows a fox I found running in there.
The next four are various angles, where you can see how massive these
are. There are also some in the snow, and then one showing how a large
tree has fallen among the bamboo causing some damage.
I'll take more when time and daylight allows.