Purple Loosestrife, "its silencing our wetlands"

Since gardening has become a hobby of mine, noticing differnet flowers, plants, shrubs and such has brought life to my eyes.

This here is purple loosestrife, which is an invasive species known to Canada and i decided to educate myself more on the dangers it comes with.

close up of the loosestrife on the side of the road

Many invasive plants, such as this, started off as an ornamential plant without knowing it overtakes the vegetation, such as the dandelion, which is origionaly from Europe but now is found all over North America.

Locally, purple loosestrife, which started as a garden flower, has spread across canada at a high rate and taken over our wetlands.

This plant can grow to 2 meters tall and as you can see is actually a really gorgeous purpleish-blueish color. The flower is visited by many different insects, such as bees ! Nom nom they say! buzz

Purple loosestrife blooms in the summer, but as you can see below, once fall comes, the plant starts turning a pretty red color for about 2 weeks and then dies off.

Despite being a nice sight for the eyes, it doesnt change the fact it is ruining our wetlands. The infestations result in ruining the water flow in rivers, canals and lakes. The plant produces over 2.7 million seeds which are easily carried by the wind and placed throughout all areas and is very costly to get rid of, mechanically and chemically.

local infestation in Manitoba

So, when planting things.. especially seeds from elseware in the world, do your reasearch and make sure they are not an invasive species to the area!

XOXO,MM