August 22

White asters all around, mostly the thin, white-toothed asters

The knotweed (oriental) is going to flower now, and in places the odor strongly smells of honeysuckle. It is a strange feeling to be walking nearby and catch a whiff of its perfume, thinking for a moment that early June has returned.

Honeysuckle is tolerably sweet, much like jasmine, but the knotweed’s version is too sickly, as if honeysuckle nectar had started to ferment.

The knotweed is everywhere in town these days, and as an invasive it seems to thrive in Paxton. It is particularly bad along Route 122, just south of the public safety complex, against the guard rail that divides the road from the lower wetlands that are filled with cattails and red-winged blackbirds. The knotweed press outward into the road, making a nuisance for drivers and walkers alike, despite that the town workers cut it back weeks ago. It returned in earnest, and now is in full display of white flowers that resemble the stalks of wild white clover, yet knotweed’s are situated in groupings, upright and in series.

I’ve read that it is proliferate via runners, and so it requires successive pullings over several growing seasons to starve its roots sufficiently. Mere cutting the foliage won’t suffice, though it does provide a respite for a month or so.