A friend pointed out this roadside plant the other day, which is pretty this time of year. Although I’d never really paid attention to it before, it’s everywhere. 

Big green leaves, long fuzzy cream-colored flower stalks, what’s not to like? 

Everything, it turns out. She called it American bamboo, but it’s more commonly known as Japanese knotweed, aka Fallopia japonica. It’s massively invasive, really hard to get rid of, no local predators, a new northern kudzu.