May, 19 17 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
223 
Because of its underground, creeping stem 
habit, the Japanese Knotweed may become 
a vile weed. This underground stem or root- 
stock develops numerous buds, each of which 
may form a new plant; thus it creeps from 
the desired limits, invading the territory of 
more worthy plants. In the vicinity of State 
College, Pennsylvania, the plant has become 
obnoxious in several localities; I have been 
compelled to fight the weed each spring in 
the vicinity of my home. 
The pest is difficult to com- 
bat due to the deep-seated 
rootstocks, which must be 
carefully dug out. Cutting 
back the little plants as they 
come above ground in the 
spring seems to be of no 
avail, since numerous others 
are constantly appearing to 
take the place of those cut 
out. If all the plants, in- 
cluding the parent, are kept 
continually cut back for a 
period of at least two years, 
the rootstock must eventu- 
ally become starved out, 
since green tissue is neces- 
sary in order to manufac- 
ture food. A foimer gar- 
dener of the Brooklyn Bo- 
tanic Garden informs me 
that he had a similar exper- 
ience with this plant. 
The Japanese Knotweed 
is variously listed under such 
scientific names as Poly- 
gonum cuspidatum, Pleu- 
ropterus Zuccarinii and 
Polygonum Zuccarinii. It 
grows to a maximum height 
of eight feet, and is rendered 
conspicuous by the profus- 
ion of greenish-white flowers 
which appear from July to 
October in the form of long, 
slender racemes; the flowers 
and the resulting triangular 
fruits are very characteris- 
tic. The plant is readily 
identified by the large long- 
pointed leaves with peculiar 
baseswhich have theappear- 
ance of being abruptly cut ofF as though with a 
pair of shears. The noxious feature, the 
rootstock, is characterized by being rather 
heavy and woody, and studded with many 
large, often reddish buds, each of which is a 
potential plant; the rootstocks may be dug 
out in sections several feet in length. 
On account of its possibilities of develop- 
ing into a pestiferous weed, those who con- 
template using the Japanese Knotweed in 
the spring planting should proceed with cau- 
tion. Many of our worst weeds, of which 
the Orange Hawkweed is a conspicuous ex- 
ample, were originally imported into this 
country for the purpose of garden cultivation 
and escaped their artificial boundaries to 
pester the farmer and become sources of great 
economic loss to the nation. The presence 
of the Japanese Knotweed in the garden ap- 
parently is a menace which should not be 
tolerated. Our list of garden plants, which 
have escaped to become noxious weeds, is 
already far too large; it should not be added 
to by this new pest. — Albert A. Hansen, Dept, 
of Botany, State College, Pa. 
Gordonia— Why So Little Grown? — There 
are many plants about which I ask myself 
this question, but perhaps more frequently 
in connection with our native Gordonia alta- 
maha than any other flowering shrub. It 
has a great deal of interest, both because of 
its period of flowering (late fall) and of its 
strange personal history. 
Here is a shrub bearing large, cup-shaped 
flowers of white, with clusters of conspicuous 
yellow stamens resembling as nearly as any- 
thing a small single white Peony. In a 
specimen growing at Garden City, the flowers 
measure four inches across and they are 
produced from the end of August until the 
weather gets too cold in October. The speci- 
men is now six to eight feet high and was 
planted in the open lawn about three years 
ago as a small rooted cutting in October. 
It has another attraction, that is the claret- 
red color of the foliage in late fall. It does 
not produce its flowers in a large crop, but 
scatteringly over a period of two months and 
that at a time when there are very few other 
flowers to be had for anything in the outdoor 
garden. The specimen shown in the photo- 
graph is growing in Mr. Robert W. De Forest’s 
gardens at Coldspring, L. I. Every once in a 
while the nurserymen will offer the Gordonia, 
but it is not generally in stock. 
The plant’s individual history is curious. 
It was discovered alongside the Altamaha 
River, Georgia, in 1765, by John Bartram, and 
was introduced into England by his son, Wil- 
liam, nine years later and was lost. The 
second collection was made in 1778 from which 
all plants now in cultivation have been de- 
rived. It is curious that the plant has not 
been seen in a wild condition since 1790 and 
the majority of the plants now in cultivation 
have been derived from the plant growing 
in Bartram’s garden in Philadelphia. It 
would indeed seem that Gordonia altamaha 
is an appropriate shrub for American gar- 
dens. — L. B. 
Building a Home.. — In renewing our 
subscription I feel I must write and tell you 
what a help your magazine has been to us. 
We are city people with little money, who were 
determined to live in the 
country and hoped to make 
a living there. We rented 
one place, as an experiment, 
to make sure we really 
would like the country. 
Then we bought a twelve 
acre fruit farm and loved it 
but after five years’ struggle 
with lack of help and lack 
of knowledge, we failed 
ignominiously and, very 
sorrowfully, went back to 
town. Just about the time 
The Garden Magazine 
was first published we made 
another attempt to live our 
of town. We bought twelve 
acres of pasture land. It 
had nothing on it but a few 
trees and they were so sit- 
uated that we could not 
build near them. We sub- 
scribed for The Garden 
Magazine and followed its 
teaching closely. 
Two years ago we sold 
that place for an unusual 
price for this vicinity and 
we have bought another 
place with half the money. 
The new place looked al- 
most hopeless but is now be- 
ginning to show the effect of 
The Garden Magazine’s 
influence. In a short time 
we are sure we are going to 
have a beautiful little home 
— and a living. We grow 
Gladiolus and Aster blooms 
for a city florist and small 
fruits for the city market. 
Once, three years ago we 
decided we would not take the Garden any 
longer but would depend upon our old num- 
bers but we soon felt so out of date that we 
subscribed again for a three years’ term. 
It would take a much longer letter to fully 
express our appreciation of your magazine. — 
F. IV. Donaldson, Pennsylvania. 
As a Subscriber to The Garden Magazine 
I have gleaned a great many useful hints in 
gardening from it and would commend it to all 
amateurs in gardening. I have a small home 
in this little growing hamlet and have planned 
many little ways to make its surroundings 
pleasing to myself. May your useful maga- 
zine continue in the future as valuable as it 
has been in the past. — Samuel 0 . Hedges, 
Bridgehampton, N. Y. 
A Compulsory Gardener. — Being one of 
the obsessionists who simply have to garden 
in the compulsory, Kipling, sense, I find the 
guidance of The Garden Magazine most 
helpful, and increasingly valuable from year to 
year. And now comes the pleasure of meeting 
Mrs. Wilder in the January issue. It makes 
one wish for more! Mrs. Wilder can make a 
Poppy note delightful. — A. R., Nezv York. 
Gordonia altamaha, one of the rarest of shrubs in gardens, is a native of Georgia, but not seen 
wild since 1790. Flowers white in late summer and fall 
