A new weed

Well, a new weed to me anyhow: an invasive grass, seriously aggressive, called Japanese Stiltgrass. Deer disdain it and as I yanked out armfuls of the stuff from my yard, I realized that nothing else eats it either! Not a single bug ended up on my bare arms as I handled it.

Japanese Stilt Grass (John Humphreys)

How did this stuff come to be in the US? Probably in packaging material, and a few seeds is all it took.

I only realized that this rather dainty grass was a problem when I went on a recent bird walk (http://www.bcas.org/) and was apprised of its invasive nature.

Now I have to extirpate it from the stream bed running through my property. It forms a sort of unholy alliance with spiderwort … so one pull uproots both the grass and the native (if pervasive) Tradescantia. Ah well, it’s good exercise!

More on this cunning blighter: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/mivi.htm

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