ATTRACTIVE SURVIVOURS Words and photos by Keith Platt
I
f they weren’t so attractive they would have ben ripped out years ago.
Agapanthus survive in my garden solely because of the colour of their flowers. OK, so the leaves are also a deep green, winter and summer.
Apart from the aesthetics, agapanthus are a pest, despite the name deriving from the Greek for “love flower”).
agapanthus being adopted as some sort of highly prized regional flower emblem on the Mornington Peninsula.
Their attractive topsides hide tenacious roots that prevent any other plants gaining a foothold.
Driveways and nature strips are filled with them. If not headed before they go to seed, the agas will quickly colonise the street.
Their up to 60 centimetre long leaves provide shelter for snails and, although the flowers are a source of food for honeyeaters (wattlebirds break agapanthus stems near season’s end) and bees, the plants take up space that could be allotted to less invasive species.
But it’s the flowers that win. A shade of blue that to my eyes can be classed as cobalt. A colour only rivalled within certain storm clouds, and then only fleetingly. The flowers actually come in a variety of shades between white and purple, but it’s the deep blue for my money.
If you do a bit of clearing cars pull up and their occupants ask if they can take away your cast-offs. Although declared an environmental weed by the shire, there is at least one
None of these negatives have stopped
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COUNTING HOUSE
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