Japanese Knotweed a real scourge

I HAD a call from a reader during the week complaining of Japanese Knotweed.

Frankly, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t complain about it once they see what destruction it can do, although one cannot be blamed for admiring its dark green, red-veined leaves and bouquets of lacy flowers growing on metre-tall stems.

Inability to identify the plant itself and ignorance of its destructive capability are what concern my reader. Why, he asks, do the county councils not launch an information campaign as with other noxious plants and trees? In his area, knotweed is annually consuming more and more ground.