Pretty Menace

A couple of years ago, when I was waylaid by a health problem, I noticed this pretty plant popping up in my flower garden (the saga of my flower garden is a tale for another day). When I finally got around to IDing it (thank you Virginia Native Plant Society FB page), it had flowered and seeded.  It is purple fumitory, a non-native plant with invasive tendencies. I call it a type of "shot weed," you know, the kind of plant that shoots its seeds about when you pull it when the seeds are ripe (bittercress, another invasive does this, as do impatiens, I believe). This year, I have been staging an eradication campaign to root it up before flowering and have had great success, though need to have 'constant vigilance' (a la Harry Potter and The Dark Arts).  I make regular sweeps through the garden, pulling it up (alas, I did not get the main root when I pulled up the plant in the photo) and also squishing the tiny seedlings from last years "crop."  From this experience I have learned to ID strange new plants as soon as I note them, and remove whatever is an invasive bad actor.