The idea of "controlling" weeds usually brings up spectres of horrendous herbicide use. Fortunately, there are some interesting studies afoot for using safe plants in relation to other plants as controls for certain weeds
It's actually encouraging to know that the Federal Government really does have a NOXIOUS WEED ACT to help curb the spread of non-native plants that threaten to destroy the balance of our native species, or ruin agriculture. Here is their definitions of weeds. This is a GOOD thing until it comes down to just how it may be ENFORCED. Here is an excellent link exploring the constitutionality of weed laws, but if you scroll down a bit it gives really interesting explanations as to the irrationality of most people's fears of allowing wild places to grow, like fire hazards, vermin problems, increased pollen etc. It's hard to imagine that any regular gardening readers of Suite101 haven't yet seen Carol Wallace's article on the horrifying ordeal that one of our own editors suffered at the hands of heartless neighbors and hateful city officials. Any who haven't, and those of you cruising through via search engines, I encourage you to take a look both at the article and the ensuing discussions. It all raised some frightening questions.
So, should we have PLANT POLICE? Should you be fined if you don't remove all the Purple Loostrife from your end of the swamp? Or perhaps you should be fined if you DON'T plant something that will provide berries for the cedar waxwings? In my humble opinion, it needs to be an educational project, not enforcable by some official who hasn't a clue about real ecology. And what happened to Traute Klein's yard shouldn't ever EVER happen to anybody.
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