| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Lori Witham |
| June 30, 2004 | (406) 444-3730
TTY (406) 444-4687 |
Landscape Plants Recalled Due to Quarantine
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Department of Agriculture is asking anyone who may have purchased a viburnum landscape shrub from the Lowe's home improvement store in Billings during the past month to contact the department.
The plants are being recalled to prevent the possible spread of Phytophthora ramorum, a fungus-like organism that causes Sudden Oak Death disease. The disease, which is not known to exist in Montana, infects other plants in addition to oaks. Some of the susceptible species are found in Montana, including lilacs and Douglas firs.
In March, infected plants were discovered at two California-based nurseries. More than a dozen states, including Montana, imposed bans on nursery plants from California and from portions of Oregon and Washington that received nursery stock from California.
Since the initial quarantine, infected plants have been found in at least one additional nursery in Oregon, including one that shipped 24 viburnum plants to the Billings Lowe's. Of that shipment, 14 plants were destroyed and 10 were sold. Agriculture officials would like to find the purchased plants and make arrangements for them to be returned for inspection or destroyed.
Several viburnum species are grown for landscape plants. Most have white flowers in the early summer, and shiny green leaves that turn colors in the fall. Only one-gallon plants purchased at the Billings Lowe's are being sought in Montana.
"We are participating in a national survey that involves visiting nurseries and greenhouses, conducting visual inspections and collecting plant samples," says Kimberly Merenz, quarantine/nursery specialist for the Montana Department of Agriculture. Samples will be analyzed at the Montana State University Plant Diagnostic Laboratory.
The Montana quarantine prohibits the importation of any of 59 regulated or associated plant species from California and portions of Oregon and Washington state.
Aggressive control and eradication programs are under way in the Pacific Northwest. Plants from the quarantined areas may be imported to Montana if the shipments are certified disease free by regulators in the affected states. Montana nurseries purchase most of their trees, shrubs and other landscape plants from suppliers in Oregon and Washington, says Merenz.
Individuals who purchased viburnum plants from the Billings store are urged to contact the Montana Department of Agriculture office in Billings at (406) 652-3615. For answers to questions about the quarantine, contact Merenz in Helena at (406) 444-3730.
General information about Sudden Oak Death and a list of regulated plants can be found on the USDA Animal Plant & Health Inspection Service website at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ispm/sod.
