Another foreigner

Himalayan Balsam is another foreign import that has become a pernicious weed. Unlike Japanese Knotweed it is not a perennial, but an annual which self-seeds with careless abandon. It is said that the seed heads, if touched when ripe, can burst and disperse their contents about 20 feet.

On the plus side they have very beautiful flowers, in various shades of pink, which are much beloved by bees.

The trick is to let the bees enjoy them but to destroy the plants before the seed has matured. IAD bought a scythe with this in mind and every year can be seen wielding said implement in the adjacent field and creating a cordon sanitaire by felling the balsam that is 20 feet or less from our boundary. Even so I spend a lot of time pulling up self-sown balsam plants the following summer.