Japanese Barberry was originally brought to the U.S. from Japan to be used as an ornamental shrub. Deer don’t like it, and it is hardy. Too hardy. It is thorny, has red berries spread by birds, and is almost impossible to eradicate. If you walk down Christman Trail in Beltzville State Park, you can see quite a lot of it. (Oh yeah, the kind of ticks that carry Lyme disease seem to like it.)
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has finally gotten around to banning it, although the sales will phased out over the next two years so that nurseries can sell existing stock.
Any nursery that is still selling this plant should not be given any time to sell any of it. It should have been banned 50 years ago. Every environmentalist knew this plant was a disaster. Here you had an obvious problem with an obvious solution, and the government, the nursery owners, and individuals who planted the damn thing did nothing until now.
Info for this post is from “Pennsylvania Phasing in Ban of Invasive Japanese Barberry,” Lancaster Farming, (Nov. 20, 2021), p. A10.
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