Persicaria Species, Jumpseed, Virginia Knotweed, Woodland Knotweed

Though I love the chevron leaves and the ground-cover nature of the blossoming plants, the aggressive spread in my woodlands has out-comp...Read Moreeted other natives, and has become a monoculture. It's been very difficult to diversify by introducing other woodland plants. We regularly weed-whacked the jumpseed to give our new plugs a chance. (Hopefully this was just a banner year for Virginia Knotweed!)

I have many of these plants growing in various shady areas of my garden. The seeds were brought by the birds. I love the interesting pat...Read Moreterns on the leaves.

I love this plant. It is easy to grow, growing well in full shade to part sun. It does not need much light to flower well, but the folia...Read Morege is attractive. There are cultivars, but if you grow the straight species (which is what I recommend) it will still occasionally show the attractive reddish chevron pattern on the leaves. It is native to North America and when I look closely, it is excellent at supporting the local ecosystems, as there are many insects that eat its leaves.

Flowers are not huge, but pretty, but come in late summer when not much else is blooming in shady areas.

This plant spreads and can be pretty aggressive. I like it as a groundcover and a plant for naturalized or semi-wild areas. It spreads both by underground runners, forming large clumps, and by seeds, which, as the name suggests, jump several feed when the seed pods pop.

When this shade loving plant flowers, they get many white "knot" flowers on the stem that have an interesting form. Beautiful chevron "V...Read More" in the foilage.

Native to the eastern and most of the central parts of U.S. and Canada. Native Americans treated whooping cough with a tea made from a mixture of Virginia knotweed leaves and the bark of the honey locust tree.