Weed patrol removing problem plants

Weed patrol removing environmental problem plants

By Janet Stephens

You’ve all seen the yellow-vested Rubbish Rangers poking around Aireys Inlet and Anglesea on Saturday mornings. Did you know that there are equally dedicated groups who meet regularly to weed?

Anglesea, Aireys Inlet Society for the Protection of Flora and Fauna (Angair) and the Friends of Eastern Otways (FEO) run regular weeding sessions for volunteers to help rid our local areas of environmental weeds. Put simply, these are plants that don’t belong here. They may be international stowaways, garden escapees or plants from other areas in Australia brought here by people, wind, water or birds. If allowed to colonise our natural bush, they can rapidly crowd out local species, such as our beautiful orchids and heathland plants, with flow-on effects for the local fauna as well.

Are they in your garden?

There are any number of environmental weeds happily growing around the Surf Coast and a good start to identifying them is to contact the Surf Coast Shire and to ask what resources they can give you. Weeds of the Surf Coast Shire is available online at www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au. A brochure titled Top 20 Weeds Anglesea to Eastern View is also available. You may be surprised to find them growing in your garden! South Africa has given us Boneseed, Agapanthus, Wild Watsonia and Myrtle-leaf Milkwort (Polygala). Western Australia has donated Bluebell Creeper and Sweet Hakea. There are even weeds which can occur naturally locally, such as Sallow Wattle and Coast Tea-tree. When they are allowed to get out of balance, often stimulated by fire, these plants can smother all indigenous vegetation.

Recent rain stimulated growth

Angair weeders spend the bulk of their time ridding the bush of Sallow Wattle and Boneseed. Recent burns around Anglesea, coupled with good rain, have stimulated both these plants, with a mass emergence of seedlings. While we acknowledge that controlled burns are necessary for the protection of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet, it is disheartening that some areas which have had tens of thousands of grant money spent on them, as well as hundreds of volunteer hours are now in a worse state than they were three years ago. Mature plants are currently flowering and it is worth taking time on your walks, or drives, to actually survey the extent of the problem.

Join us!

Both FEO and Angair welcome new members. Go to angair.org.au and feo.org.au for further information. Angair weeders meet every Monday at 9.25 am at the Angair office in the community precinct (in MacMillan St with parking out the front of our building). The exception to this rule is the second Monday of the month, which is always a nature walk. The FEO weeders meet on the second Tuesday of every month. Come along, we’d love to meet you!

Environmental weeds: Sallow Wattle (top left), Bluebell Creeper (bottom left), Boneseed (with the yellow daisy flower) (right)