Japanese knot weed a real menace

Every year I look forward to the wonderful display of daffodils that bloom along the road from Cork Airport down Airport Hill to the Bull McCabe’s.

With the mild winter the daffodils were early this year, with the first flowers appearing at the end of February and, though it is April, the last of the daffodils are still to be enjoyed. I would like to thank those in Cork County Council who had the foresight to plant them many years ago.

However, I have, for the last couple of years, noticed that the Airport Hill daffodils have a competitor which this year seemed to be displacing large sections of them.

Unfortunately it is the nature of this competitor, the formidable Japanese knot weed, to take over. The World Conservation Union includes it in its list of most invasive plants.

In the UK, it is illegal to plant Japanese knot weed and the British government spends £150m pounds a year trying to eradicate it. It is a bright green, thick-growing plant that destroys other plants, and undermines roads, paths and foundations. This weed is encroaching on many other areas of Cork, so I am alerting people to the danger.

Kathy Sinnott

Ballinhassig

Co Cork