eGarden © 2006 Ed Mues

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on October 18, 2006

A Naughty Lady from Shady Lane.

There is a terrorist in our midst and her beauty is much of the problem. I identified her in 2002 for Peggy De Wire. Peggy first saw her along side a brook on Davis Lane in Grahamsville. This is just a stone's throw from the Neversink Agricultural Society's Fairgrounds, the site of The Little World's Fair and the Giant Pumpkin Party, the Daniel Pierce Library's biggest fundraiser. I was humbled and honored at the same time, because Peggy, a retired schoolteacher and weekly nature writer for The Townsman, a.k.a. "Ye Olde Tri-Valley Townsman", today, is rarely at a loss about matters in nature. I dedicate this column to you, Peggy. You are a local treasure and a wonderful source of inspiration to me and, I'm sure, to many others. Keep up the wonderful work.

Meanwhile, the femme fatale is a foreigner, a plant from another land. I say with certainty that she is in our midst, because last year a fellow gardener gave me some of her seeds. This year she gave me some plants germinated from seed. I went to the original spot that Peggy first spied the plant, alongside a brook. There was one plant present this day, Oct. 7, 2006. She stood less than three feet tall, backed by a concrete bridge footing. Rather protected, but with damp feet and lots of sunshine. Her seedpods were ripe and ready to burst at the slightest disturbance. I wondered where else the previous generations were established and where their progeny would stop next.

Weeds of the Northeast is a compendium and valuable field guide to identifying 299 weeds common or economically important to the fields of biology, ecology, agronomy, horticulture, nursery management, golf courses, gardening and landscaping. Authors Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. DiTomaso enlisted the help of many organizations for funding the lengthy research effort. The assistance from colleagues and the bibliography read like a who's who of the plant world and the weed world. I regard it as "the book" to have if trying to identify a weed.

The alien invader is not mentioned in the book, or depicted. So, who is she? She is Impatiens glandulifera, a distant relative of our native jewelweeds. She hails from India and the western Himalayan mountains. I had seen her several years ago under the name "French Impatiens". She was in western Sullivan County, the Milses area.

Her current nicknames are "Policeman's Helmet", and "Oriental Jewelweed". Seeds were brought back to England in the mid-1800s and it colonized easily. The blossom bears a striking resemblance in shape to its earlier nickname. Banned in Connecticut, and appearing more and more frequently on invasive plant lists, it is counted as being naturalized in Sullivan County, N.Y.

She is a true threat. Her successful seduction, not unlike Japanese knotweed and purple loosestrife, is a direct response to her attractive flowers, ease of cultivation, and abundant supply of pollen and nectar when other sources are waning. The bees love her, as do a variety of moths and some wasps. Hence, she has guaranteed pollination. She may, not too far in the future, become one of America's top invasive plants. The Northeast is especially vulnerable.

You may not have seen her yet, but she is here, and you will likely see her sooner or later. She is a strong, fast growing annual with a sturdy stem. She can attain a height of seven or more feet. Her flowers are larger than our native jewelweeds and colored from white to pink to purple.

Our native Impatiens earn the nickname "touch-me-not" because they possess seed capsules that, when ripe, explode when disturbed. They shower seeds in all directions from three to four feet all around for next seasons crop. Our natives are either orange with a touch of red (Spotted jewelweed, Impatiens capensis) or yellow (Pale jewelweed, Impatiens pallida). They really do sparkle like jewels, as does the newcomer.

These Impatiens, all three, thrive in partly sunny wet areas. The yellow tolerates more shade. The invader tolerates either sun or shade. She can propel her seeds fifteen to twenty feet and have no trouble hitching a ride on a watercourse. Her preference for wet soils interferes with stream flow, shades and crowds out native plants during the growing season and then dies leaving exposed ground subject to erosion. Of course, her seeds might go with the erosion. Depending on the size, a single Policeman's Helmet plant can produce from 800 to 2200 seeds in a season.

In King County, Washington, the plant is on the Noxious Weed List. Plant and seed sales are illegal. More than one hundred sites in western Washington have been identified as having the plant established there. Their written findings state that Policeman's Helmet "... is considered naturalized throughout the United Kingdom, most of mainland Britain, Ireland, and several of the British Isles. It is found in 18 European countries between latitudes of 30 and 64 N; French Pyrenees, Holland, Germany, the Austrian Alps, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and parts of Russia." Also, "... in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia".

It is here, now, in Sullivan and Ulster counties! Gardeners especially need to know how aggressively this plant can spread and become a problem. It can easily crowd out and replace our native jewelweeds. That would be a tragedy.

Don't think for a minute that because it's an annual, it won't be a problem. Crab grass is an annual, too! Don't share seeds of this one, if you find it. Destroy them or send them to a research institution for study. Tragically, they are for sale on the Internet, at the same time that they are illegal to sell in specific locals. The lure of a new garden ornamental plant has once again brought us a problem that needs to be considered.

Educate yourself and your gardening friends about this potential threat. Stop its spread by talking it up with your like-minded cohorts. Most of all get to know it, recognize it, and get rid of it without spreading it. Check the Internet, call Cornell Cooperative Extension, do your part.

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on October 18, 2006

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