Everything I know about plants comes from my mother, who had a degree in horticulture (way back in the 1960s). I'm sure she forgot 20 times more information than I have ever known. At any rate, in the spring of 2007 I obtained what I was told were hop (humulus lupulis) rhizomes. I'm a homebrewer, and I was interested in hop growing. I have seen hop rhizomes in the past, and these looked somewhat different, but I planted them anyway in a sunny location (but rather poor soil). What finally emerged from the ground (after about six weeks) was some kind of climbing plant that grew, although not very well, to a height of about 15 cm the first season. I knew it wasn't hops, but I didn't have the heart to pull it out of the ground. This is its second season (obviously it's a perennial), and it's doing a little better. I see now that it has rather large shovel-shaped green leaves and red stems. Currently (June 2008) it's about 40 cm high. I enclose a photo in the hopes that someone can identify it. I have no idea if it grows well in B.C., where I suspect many members of this forum live, but it seems to be doing all right where I am in southern Ontario, very close to Lake Ontario.
Thanks for the I.D. Yes, it does look like Japanese knotweed (fallopia), which from what I can tell is a noxious weed. Apparently it grows from rhizomes. I think I better dig this one up and destroy it before it spreads and causes problems.
Yep, Japanese Knotweed. Definitely one to be rid of, but it won't be easy - even the tiniest fragments of root left behind will re-grow.
