Help: Did I buy Japanese knotweed?

Japanese knotweed has quickly gained a notorious reputation. Although this plant isn't in the news as much as it has been in recent years, Japanese knotweed remains a major problem in many places.

This invasive weed spreads quickly and seems to be able to grow even through cracks in asphalt. It can also take over entire gardens!

It’s great, of course, that attention is being paid to notorious invasive species. But due to a confusion over names, an entire genus has been cast in a bad light: Persicaria. The Dutch name for this genus is also “Duizendknoop”…

Persicaria is not the infamous Japanese knotweed!

Persicaria (known in Dutch as “duizendknoop” or “adderwortel”) is a rewarding garden plant and certainly not the notorious invasive species that has been in the news so much. So don’t worry if you’ve just bought one of the many beautiful varieties of Persicaria for your garden.

This plant is characterized by a long blooming period, with graceful, panicle-shaped flowers. The leaves are large and beautifully shaped. They also remain on the plant well into the fall. It is an easy-to-grow plant that will thrive in many locations. Most varieties can grow quite large, but you can certainly keep them small. Persicaria does not produce underground rhizomes that sprout new plants meters away. It is, however, a fast grower.

So Persicaria is not Japanese knotweed. That, by the way, is called Fallopia japonica. It’s a completely different species!