When you admire the pretty clusters of creamy white flowers that adorn Japanese knotweed plants during August, it’s easy to see why 19th century gardeners were so taken with this impressive new ornamental plant when they discovered it at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew and other nurseries throughout Europe. Bees love it too and can often be seen crowding around the delicate tassels of tiny flowers, attracted by its colour, fragrance and the sweetness of its nectar.

One of the common problems with invasive weeds is identifying them. We carried out some research with YouGov in 2018 that showed fewer than one fifth (19%) of Brits who said they were aware of Japanese knotweed could correctly identify it.

Every day, especially at this time of year, people across the country are blithely strimming back a stand of knotweed and spreading it because they didn’t recognise what they were dealing with.