Quote Originally Posted by davidstcldfl
On the kudzu, the story I heard.....was a lady had gone overseas on vacation, brought back some for her garden. Then nature took over !
This is pretty much what I've read in many places .......

Quote Originally Posted by Wikipedia
United States

Kudzu growing on trees

Kudzu was introduced from Japan into the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was promoted as a forage crop and an ornamental plant. From 1935 to the early 1950s, the Soil Conservation Service encouraged farmers in the Southeastern United States to plant kudzu to reduce soil erosion as above. The Civilian Conservation Corps planted it widely for many years.

Kudzu growing on shrubs

It was subsequently discovered that the Southeastern US has near-perfect conditions for kudzu to grow out of control — hot, humid summers, frequent rainfall, temperate winters with few hard freezes (kudzu cannot tolerate low freezing temperatures that bring the frost line down through its entire root system, a rare occurrence in this region), and no natural predators. As such, the once-promoted plant was named a pest weed by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1953.

Infestation of Kudzu in the United States.

Kudzu is now common throughout most of the Southeastern United States, and has been found as far northeast as Paterson, New Jersey, in 30 Illinois counties including as far north as Evanston,[12] and as far south as Key West, Florida. It has also been found growing in Clackamas County, Oregon in 2000 with no known source. This is the first infestation west of Texas.[13] Kudzu has naturalized into about 20,000 to 30,000 square kilometers (7,700–12,000 sq mi) of land in the United States and costs around $500 million annually in lost cropland and control costs.[14]
more here ...Clik
See, just like the so-called Pig Flu, the gov't creates a crisis, and then justifies their job by attempting (although very poorly) to get rid of the crisis!