Moving onto the heavy hitters — plants like sweet clovers and plumbagos ... where they discharge chemicals that halt nuisances like kochia and stinkweed in their tracks. And guess what?

A large flower garden managed by Mie Prefecture's Shima City features 200,000 cosmos plants and, for the first time, 5,200 kochia shrubs as well. Visitors can enjoy strolling past the fields of ...