PITTSBURGH — A shrub popular with landscapers and a favorite for ticks that can spread Lyme disease, the sale of Japanese barberry in Pennsylvania will be outlawed by the fall of 2023.
State officials added the shrub to the list of noxious weeds, according to our partners at TribLIVE.com.
It was originally brought to the U.S. from eastern Asia in the 1800s and it has been widely used as a landscape feature because of its color and because deer won’t eat it. If it is in the wild, however, it can quickly take over, choking out native plants.
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There will be a two-year rollout plan:
- Nursery and landscaping businesses will receive a notice this month informing them they will need to immediately being decreasing their inventory of the plant.
- Warning letters will go out next fall warning any businesses still selling the shrub there could be consequences.
- Stop-sale and destruction orders will be issued in the fall of 2023.
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