It is tough, tolerates alkaline soils well, is easy to propagate from seed or division, and requires little care once established. It met all the requirements for a sure bet in Nevada s harsh gardens. The perfect xeriscape plant. Once established it could survive abuse and still reliably produce beautiful spikes of purple flowers from mid-summer to frost. Not everything is as it seems.
Purple loosestrife is an aggressive invader of waterways.
In the Northeast, Midwest, and the Pacific Coast states, it dominates the landscape of riparian zones and wetlands. Utah and Idaho spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year clearing watercourses, drainage systems and recreational areas of this weed. Water flow is altered, native vegetation is lost along with habitat for native birds and other animals, and access for recreation is diminished along watercourses, lakes and ponds. We are lucky. To date, purple loosestrife is only a problem in the wetlands of Spanish Springs, the Sparks Drain, and the lower Truckee River, with very little present along the canals and ditches in Fernley.