TOSSI – Space invaders

From a place far, far away we came upon a beautiful remote little island, bringing with us our treasured house plants to decorate our spaceships for the journey and eventually our homes in a new world. Little did we realise that these treasured plants in their delicate pots would take over the land like something out of a horror movie. Such as the Day of the Pampas, or Gingerland, or how about The Moth.?

Joking aside, these invasive plants are not just any old weed in the wrong place, they are plants that cause high levels of environmental damage to our native ecosystem. The very worst of them will out-compete, smother or poison the native species and waterways.

At some level, one can only admire their ability to proliferate, and they use nature to do it – wind, water, birds and soil, sending their offspring to find new ground to colonise. The worst offenders, or perhaps the best, are those that have amazing seed dispersal. If you have driven down SH1 recently you will have seen the vast swathes of pampas that are dominating the landscape (not to be confused with the native toi toi). Or the Dome Valley, a lovely corridor for wild ginger to hang out.

At Tāwharanui, the worst invaders we are at pains to keep out are wild ginger, moth plant and woolly nightshade. Then there’s also pampas, monkey apple, bone seed, and the list goes on. There are others, as well as those mentioned above, out on the peninsula and the surrounding areas just waiting to leap the fence, such as privet, Japanese honeysuckle, agapanthus, tradescantia, gorse and Mexican daisy.

It can all seem a bit overwhelming, but we could all do our bit to slow it down. Tackle the invaders in your own backyard, don’t give them a chance to disperse their seeds – cut off the heads before seeds appear or deal to them before they flower, don’t send the seeds to landfill where they can disperse further, pull up seedlings, have mini-working bees to help each other dig out the bigger patches, don’t put invasives in your compost or green waste, and get a weed bag to put them in to rot.

We also suggest that gardeners be selective with what they buy for their garden; buy natives where possible or research non-invasive alternatives. Remember my opening paragraph – 75 per cent of invasive species started out as houseplants!

My final word, though, is to our authorities that own public land such as reserves and roadsides – you have to do better. In turn, this will inspire the rest of us to do better. The health of our people depends on having a healthy ecosystem, which is currently at risk of being invaded from inner space.

For more great tips on how to tackle your weeds, go to weedbusters.org.nz