Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: New weeds for the Midwest
As if we didn’t have enough! HA! Each year the Department of Agriculture adds new “weeds” to their lists. There are specifics on how these weeds are classified. While this comes from the Minnesota Dept. of Ag, it goes for all of the Midwest, in fact, Wisconsin put the hex on one of them a while ago!
“Prohibited Eradicate – Most serious threat; remove all parts of the plant above and below ground. Then it’s Prohibited Control – Landowners must manage to prevent plant from spreading, next comes Restricted – Landowners encouraged to manage, but not legally required to remove and Specially Regulated – Special management plans have been developed by the Minnesota Dept. of Ag to minimize potential harm.
The Burning bush is in the last category.
The Norway maple also made the “Specially Regulated” list, it can’t be planted any closer than 100 yards from natural areas! If you go to Minnesota Wildflowers, they have it listed as ERADICATE! (plant our native Red maple instead)
Japanese honeysuckle takes top prize as Prohibited Eradicate! Lonicera japonica, it’s latin name, is toxic to birds and humans. The berries are no good!
I have Lonicera sempervirens ‘Dropmore Scarlet’. My honeysuckle vines are a hybrid and adored by hummingbirds. Take a peek at these options.
Bohemian knotweed is categorized as Prohibited control. It’s also classified in Wisconsin as Prohibited. Bohemian knotweed is a hybrid between Japanese knotweed and giant knotweed.
Why is it so important to know about these invasives? Well, take a look at buckthorn, probably the worst invasive shrub ever! So much so that cities are hiring goats to get rid of them. They take precious space from our native plants that harbor our native wildlife, including pollinators. It’s not that people deliberately brought these obnoxious noxious weeds into our country, most of the time, it was accidental.
Siberian peashrub and European Alder are now Restricted. There is an exception for the peashrub: Caragana arborescens Lam. (exemption for Green Spires® Caragana – Caragana ‘Jefarb’)
For the entire list of MN Noxious Weeds click HERE.