Every spring we begin the "spruce-up-the-yard" season with the removal of the dead stalks from the previous growing season (we left them in place all winter to provide a barrier between us and the scary neighbors). Today I accomplished just that, snapping or cutting off the stalks at the base, breaking them into workable lengths and hauling them out to the curb for the village to pick up. Don't worry....these stalks are dead and will not sprout into new, noxious growth at the county compost site. I can already see the new, bright red shoots poking up through the soil. Over the next few weeks These buds will stretch 3 or 4 feet into the strangest, asparagus-looking shoots with very little in the way of leaves. Then, while I'm out running an errand, these stalks will burst into foliage and stretch the rest of their height, thoroughly hiding the sight of anything on the other side that you don't want to see...so it does have some value.
Getting rid of Knotweed.....is impossible. Or, nearly so. I have yet to succeed in eliminating it from the property line. We tried very hard to do so several years ago. After months of digging and squirting Round-Up into the stalks and on the roots, we discovered that efforts to remove the plant only stimulates it's super-powers and causes it to grow faster...and spread further into the yard. Feeling sorry for us, a well-meaning neighbor thought he would make things better by running his roto-tiller through the area. I came running out of the house with arms waving, yelling "STOP! You don't know what you're doing!!!" A week later, every one of those chopped-up little pieces sprouted into a new plant...creating a lush carpet of Knotweed. (Have I mentioned that desperate people in Great Britain have gone to jail for throwing this stuff in ditches in the dark of night?)
A year later, the scary neighbors moved in and we gave up on getting rid of this blight on the plant world. We let it grow up on the property line once again....and after the neighbor kid tried to steal our basketball, I fertilized it.
