Lavender is popular for many reasons. Not only does it look good in your garden, but the scent is intoxicating.
Watch: Charlie Albone’s Top Tips For Planting In Summer
But not all lavender varieties are created equal. In fact, one variety (if left to its own devices), can do a lot of damage to the environment. It’s even been declared a weed in some parts of Australia.
Why Italian lavender is a high-risk plant
Native to the Mediterranean region, lavendual stoechas (Italian lavender), has been declared a weed in both Victoria and Western Australia.
It is naturalised in South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Tasmania. This means it has jumped the garden fence and is now spreading in the environment, potentially eliminating understory species, like small trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses and mosses.
How to limit weeds in your garden
That’s where the Gardening Responsibly initiative comes in.
Launched last month, the new initiative aims to educate people about how to keep healthy, beautiful gardens that reduce the risk of impacting biodiversity and limit future landscape-scale weed invasions.
It includes an online resource that helps identify and select plants that are low risk, and an eco-label certification that is put on plants that are low-risk within cooperating retailers.
Where do weeds come from?
72% of the weeds we have in Australia today were introduced accidentally as ornamentals.
Scarily, the six most common weeds cover an area three times the size of Tasmania, which shows how fast these plants can spread.
Aimee Freimanis is the Program Manager of the Gardening Responsibly Initiative. She says: “The definition of a weed is a plant in the wrong place. Nobody wants weed in their garden.”
She adds: “For the first time ever we can predict what can be an invasive weed and what’s not.”
Common invasive weeds
As well as Broad-leaf Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Lantana is another invasive weed that was originally brought in as an ornamental plant – all of which are causing lots of damage.
“Invasive weeds are a big environmental problem that costs billions of dollars every year to manage,” says Aimee.
“If a big patch of lantana gets loose, it smothers and out-competes thousands of native plants that are homes to animalsm” she says.
“We are really wanting to get gardens to be aware. We don’t even know what the next weed will be.”
Five ways to check if your plant is low risk
Gardening Responsibly offers some tips for checking to see if you plant is low risk.
1. Check the list of low risk plants here.
If your plant isn’t found:
- it may not have been assessed yet
- there may be a spelling error in your search term
- you may have entered an incorrect scientific name
- it may be out of scope (e.g. an aquatic plant),
- it has been assessed but was found not to be low risk.
2. Search by growth habitat to see low risk plants that are similar to the type you’re looking for.
3. Set up a free login to the Research Portal where you can carry out an advanced search on your plant to see if there is any data on it, or submit a request for your plant to be assessed.
4. To quickly check more than one plant – upload your plant list into the Research Portal for instant results.
5. Contact Member Suppliers to get advice on your preferred plants for your garden.
You might also like:
How to create a weed-free garden
The most accurate way to get rif of unwanted weeds in your garden
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