It is the time of year when everyone is doing their best to make their own corner of the world a bit more pleasing to the eye.
Whether you are planting flowers ordered from an online catalogue, or from your local greenhouse, there are some varieties that shouldn’t go in the ground.
As you will read on Page 9A, County of Barrhead assistant fieldman Jay Byer says there are two categories of weed species, noxious and prohibited noxious respectively, that our readers should be on the lookout for.
These are plants that may have found their way into the wildflower packets you purchased through the aforementioned online catalogues, though they may not necessarily be listed.
Those that fall under the category of noxious, or prohibited noxious weeds include leafy spurge, field scabious, scentless chamomile, oxeye daisy, orange hawkweed, purple loosestrife, common toadflax, himalayan balsam, flowering rush, creeping bellflower, woolly burdock, tall buttercup and common tansy.
For clarity, Byer defines noxious weeds as those the province has identified as proving detrimental to the environment, livestock, humans or crop production.
These are weeds that the municipality has been charged with the task of controlling.
Others such as the himilayan balsam and hawkweed varieties are prohibited noxious weeds and while pleasant to look at, can carry a fine, or potential jail time should they be allowed to proliferate.
Byer said the threat of jail is hardly ever carried out and instead, in all likelihood, the county will simply take over the management of your land and bill you for the effort to remove these troublesome species.
So, why take the risk?
If you are in doubt regarding a particular flower or plant in your yard, or your neighbour’s yard, contact the county and they will investigate.
If you live in town and you share the same concerns, contact Brant Ross at public works and he’ll direct you to the appropriate person.
If it doesn’t originate here, chances are it will take over wherever it is planted and kill off the native species, so lets all do our part.
If the wildflower packages come from an online catalogue, demand a list of the included varieties and reference those with the list above.
It won’t cost you anything to have the weed inspector come and have a look and in the long run, it could save you money on your tax bill too.
