Invasion!

The Invader! Earl Plato

It was the Reenactment of the 1814 Siege at Fort Erie this past Saturday, August 9. The invasion of Upper Canada (Ontario) by the Americans was over. In a few short years the ruins of old Fort Erie would be covered with weedy growth. No more invasions back then until the Fenian invasion of 1866. Then many decades passed until another invader arrived in Fort Erie and creeped westward and yes, northwards into Niagara Falls! The “Purple Invader” is real and its growing at a great rate here in the Town. Drive Albany Road to Dominion Road and head for Ridgeway. On both sides of the highway you see the Purple loosestrife taking over. Drive Nigh Road west from Rosehill Road and even entire fields are a purple hue. Comments I have heard, “It is so attractive with its purple flowers;” “I like it. What’s the problem?”
First of all Purple loosestrife is an alien plant. It came from Europe in the 1800’s. It is not indigenous to North America. “So!” Let’s look at this plant more closely.
It has a ridged, square stem. A single plant can produce as many as thirty stems growing from a central, woody root mass. The ones I see here in the Ridgeway area are more than a metre high. Some even reach two metres in height! The flowers are pink-purple in colour and are tightly clustered in a long spike. 30 stems on each Purple loosestrife plant! Each stem produces tens of thousand seeds. These seeds are small, light and are easily dispersed by the wind.
Get the picture? I have monitored a wetland area on Gorham Road in Ridgeway for many years and the plant has continued to grow and expand westwards. The “purple invasion” is relentless.
I went on the Internet and learned new names for this plant. Here are three - “Beautiful killer;” “Marsh monster;” and “Exotic invader.”
Purple loosestrife dominates and outcompetes native vegetation such as the valuable cattails. The results are solid stands of Purple loosestrife that are apparently useless to our wildlife. Once established it is difficult to eradicate.
On my observation drives in August I found Point Abino Road from Erie road to Netherby Road I thought was free from the “purple monster.” Not so, for near Nigh Road on the east side there were two new stands of Purple loosestrife. I will check these two sites next year.
Do you have Purple loosestrife growing near you? Watch it spread these next few years. Sprays are ineffective but beetles from Europe that feed exclusively on the “Purple plague” may be the answer!