NATURE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: A knotty problem
Toni Bandrowicz
In 1930, it was Al Capone. In 1934, John Dillinger. After Dillinger was killed, it was Pretty Boy Floyd and, after him, Baby Face Nelson. They were all listed by the FBI as “Public Enemy No. 1.” The term “Public Enemy” was first used in the 1930s to describe dangerous criminals whose activities were extremely damaging to society.
Today we have a dangerous killer in our midst but it’s not a gangster, it’s a plant: Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica).
Introduced to the U.S. from eastern Asia in the late-1800s, Japanese Knotweed creates tall dense thickets that shade out all other plant life. It’s literally killing off our native shrubs, trees, and flowers. Loss of native species impacts the insects, birds, and mammals that depend on those plants for food. And that, in turn, ultimately affects us.
I have a consistent route I take to work in the mornings. And as I tend to do, I am usually peeking around to see what is happening in the landscape. This time of year, the headliners during my drives are usually dogwoods, azaleas, cherries and forsythia exploding with color.
But on this morning’s journey, there is one that is really showing out nicely that I tend to forget even exists. And it happens to be the state flower of Georgia. The Cherokee Rose (Rosa laevigata) was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly as the floral emblem of the State of Georgia on August 18, 1916, at the request of the Federation of Women s Clubs.
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