Two watershed groups, provincial officials and staff from the P.E.I.
Invasive Species Council were hard at work at the Beach Grove Natural Area in Charlottetown recently, pulling up Himalayan balsam. They pulled up almost a tonne of the plant. It was an effort to get the plant under control in Beach Grove, said Clay Cutting, invasive species technician with the P.
E.I. Invasive Species Council.
"It's a very pretty flower, it has a very fleshy stem, and it spreads very quickly," said Cutting. The tonne of removed material was about three quarters of what was in the area. Time ran out on the weekend project, he said.
Now is a good time to be digging up Himalayan balsam, says Clay Cutting. (Ken Linton/CBC) Himalayan balsam came to P.E.
I. as an ornamental plant, and it is still available in garden centres. It's attractive and easy to grow.
But that ease also makes it problematic as an invasive species. A single plant can produce up to 2,500 seeds a year. Those seeds spread in an unusual way.
Pressure builds up in the seed pods as they mature and then they explode, firing seeds up to seven metres away from the parent plant. Even though the group didn't get all of it, Cutting said it was an important effort. Himalayan balsam has been popular in gardens for its attractive flowers.
(Shutterstock) "Gradually, it would continue to spread. It is a natural area, a provincially-managed natural area, so there's a lot of really beautiful native diversity, and especially for the Charlottetown.