Bloomin' Beautiful
I HAVE written several times about the importance of recognising and getting rid of weeds so they don’t spread into the wider environment.
This time I want to focus on one particular weed but there are many more of them.
The usual definition of a weed is “a plant growing in the wrong place”.
Environmental weeds are something else again and will be designated as such by a local or federal body.
A plant may be a problem in one area of the world and not in another so we can’t generalise about any particular species. It is unfair to give a detrimental label to a particular plant when its cousin is the badly-behaved one and it is perfectly innocent.
You need to become informed. This is particularly relevant if you are shopping for plants in an area other than your own, buy plants online or from local markets or receive a gift of a plant from a friend’s garden.
The water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is occasionally found floating on the surface of ponds in old gardens. It is such an attractive plant, with flowers a bit like an orchid, so it is tempting to bring some home and put it in your own garden.
Yet it is one of the world’s worst aquatic weeds because it has invaded waterways on every continent except Antarctica.
It is indigenous to the Amazon basin, arriving in Australia in the 1890s, and it is
one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It can cover whole rivers and lakes in no time, producing thousands of seeds every year, each one being viable for up to 28 years. So you see the problem.
If you happen to have this plant in your garden pond, consider disposing of it as soon as you can. Do not put it in the compost.
The best method of disposal for any weed is to place it in a black plastic bag and leave it in the full sun until it completely decomposes. Then put it into your ordinary household bin.
Check with your local council to see what are the designated environmental weeds for your area and try not to grow them.
