This year’s Big Balsam Bash on 29 June saw around 25 volunteers gathering at Fletcher Moss Gardens to help with the control of this invasive plant. Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) was introduced to Britain in the 1830s and has spread rapidly, especially along river banks, smothering other native plants and attracting pollinating insects away from them.
Lots of people regularly pull Himalayan balsam plants as they walk around Fletcher Moss, and this has really helped to control its spread. It’s particularly pleasing that the water meadow near the dipping pond is pretty much clear of balsam since some vigorous efforts over the last couple of years, and a wide range of wildflowers is now protected there. If you pull, thank you! Please pile up at the side of the path, or on heaps that are already there, but not on cut grass, as it can get tangled up in the Council mowing machines. Please don’t pull once it has started to seed.
