I was looking at the recent NHS COVID campaign and thinking it would work well with Japanese knotweed. The tag lines of ‘anyone can get it’ and ‘anyone can spread it’ would be useful to take on board with dealing with invasive species.

And maybe, if everyone acted ‘like you’ve got it’ then maybe we could get this problem under control?

All too often we see household waste containing invasive species – dumped in neglected areas. These areas often then cause spread and establishment of new areas of invasive plants.

Now you could argue that many people don’t realise what they are doing and are inadvertently spreading root and rhizome of unwanted plants – so maybe if everyone just assumes that… ‘they’ve got it’ …then maybe that excuse gets thrown out of the argument?

Maybe, if everyone just checked in their garden for unwanted alien species – on the assumption that they DID have a problem – then newly established alien species could be tackled BEFORE they become a problem.

Let’s get a nationwide search started for problem plants.

Let’s check that unruly scrub at the bottom of your garden.

Let’s look on the nearby river frontage.

Let’s start to notice what’s happening on our favourite walks.

We might not get a vaccine against unwanted plants but maybe we can start a movement that at least identifies problems before they get out of hand.

Mike C

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