Persicaria Species, Curly Top Knotweed, Dock Leaved Smartweed, Nodding Smartweed, Pale Smartweed

I'm rating this "weed" a positive so far, simply because I only have one of them this year...lol, next year after this one has gone to se...Read Moreed, I may change my tune!

I have a bench in a corner of my garden, and behind it I have a large (20 gallon) pot where I usually plant purple fountain grass as a pretty backdrop. This year I started a new job, and in the spring the yard kind of got away from me. The pot stood empty. Sometime in July, I went to check on the pot (I was going to plant a grass there anyway; better late than never) and noticed an interesting volunteer popping up. The joints on the thick stems made it look almost tropical, like a bamboo, and I thought, "Hey, this is kind of cool...maybe I'll leave it." Two months later, and the smartweed has long since burst into bloom, and is about 4 feet tall (6 feet total if you add the height of the pot!). It filled in behind the bench completely and looks beautiful, almost like I'd put it there on purpose! I'm a little dubious of what next year will bring, however. I feel like either I'll never see this pretty plant in my garden again, or I'll be pulling it out of my entire yard! I hear the goldfinches love it, though, so it can't be all bad :)