That is sad. I'm trying to stamp out Lamium, but I like the Phalaris as it is my only hope for our strip where our mailboxes are located, an area that doesn't get any supplemental water and is overrun with weeds. It doesn't seem to self-seed.

Thanks for the update, gardengal48

Which is worse, Class A or Class C? The WA state site was not working.

Class A - requires eradication by law
Class B - designated for control or decided at a local level. Control of new infestations are high priority.
Class C - control at discretion of local authority. Most of the plants under the Class C listing are extremely widespread and of concern to agriculture. Class C includes things like English ivy, bindweed, Clematis vitalba.

In King County, a lot of state Class B&C weeds are listed as "non-designated noxious weeds" and their control (removal) is recommended but not required.

I am stil confused about Buddleja davidii. I keep hearing that many of the cultivars are not a problem but I wonder if that is fact or myth. Does anyone know of a reliable resource which addresses this? jwww

The pamplet (Garden Wise) we are handing out where I work lists Buddleja davidii. Last summer I spoke with Tanya DeMarsh Dodson to ask her about this issue. At the present time, all Buddleja davidiis are included. She did say there are people working on producing a sterile Buddleja. Will a sterile Buddleja still attract butterflies? Don't know. Even Forest Farm states they can spread by seed... Our nursery is choosing not to sell Buddleja davidiis. More info? www.invasivespeciescoalition.org

To date, there is no sterile cultivar of Buddleja davidii, the species and cultivars most commonly grown. They all reseed pretty freely and have a 90% germination rate. And considering each flowerhead can produce upto 40,000 seeds, that's the potential for a lot of unwanted offspring.

Our nursery is also not choosing to carry Buddleja any longer. This doesn't necessarily mean you should run right out and yank out your butterfly bush if you have one, but I'd make a concerted effort to remove the spent flowerheads before they set seed.

I had a row of Buddleia davidi's I started from seed and they started seeding around some. I got rid of the whole row and all the seedlings but kept one plant that was all by itself. I have never seen any seedlings come up near it. Maybe they are not self-fertile? I don't cut back the single plant like I used to the row and it doesn't reach such monster proportions either.

Thanks for the info, gardengal. I don't really want to remove my Phalaris since it is solving my weedy grass problems. I was so bummed out to see Milk Thistle as a Class A weed one year, as it is a medicinal I would have liked to grow. I don't understand that one as I have never seen it in the wild.

A presumed hybrid of the same parentage as 'Lochinch' grown from seed of B. fallowiana has seeded into a parking area on Camano Island. So a plant may only have to be part B. davidii to start going wild on some sites here. However, many other species are cultivated and will lilkely never show the same tendencies, unless the climate becomes milder; the problem with these is probably more often getting the original planting to overwinter successfully (in only several years may have already lost second B. japonica to this past winter on same site).