Garden escapees

* This page has been archived and is no longer updated.
[created on 17/08/2005]


Escaped invasive garden plants are the biggest source of agricultural and environmental weeds, costing farmers many millions of dollars each year. Just one escaped invasive garden plant - Lantana - now degrades over 4 million hectares of Australia's environment.

The CSIRO report Jumping the Garden Fence, commissioned by WWF-Australia, found that many escaped invasive garden plants are still advertised for sale.

How you can help

  • When you are buying plants for your garden, be sure to check the Ninety invasive garden plants by State/Territory list before buying to be sure you're not purchasing an invasive species.
     
  • If the plant you were planning to purchase is on the list, buy a similar, non-invasive plant instead.
     
  • Familiarise yourself with the over 1,000 invasive or potentially invasive garden plants on the National List of Invasive Garden Plants.

Resources
  • The Nursery Industry Association of NSW has published Grow Me Instead (PDF 1.3 MB), a booklet that identifies and describes replacement species.
     
  • The Weeds Australia website has lots of information about invasive species.
     
  • The Weeds CRC is a Cooperative Research Centre that is working to reduce the risks posed by current and new weed incursions through programs in research, education and information delivery across Australia.