what can i do

Your local garden retailer plant specialists will have additional suggestions of plants proven to be successful in your area. Plants purchased in another region, no matter how lovely, may not always prove hardy in yours, and in doing so, you may unwittingly introduce another environmental weed!

It is also a good idea to consider your garden setting and to then make a list of the plants to fill your specific house and garden needs. For example, aspects of the house exposed to hot western sun will benefit from a deciduous tree to provide summer shade and will allow penetration of winter sun, while privacy from neighbours can be provided by carefully chosen hedging plants. Or you may simply want to create beds or borders of colourful flowers and dramatic foliages to enhance your home décor. All of these wishes and needs are valid and they will vary between gardeners.

Garden plants provide many useful purposes, and in time they will become an integral part of your environment, chosen to suit the architecture of both your home and your personal lifestyle. Good garden cultivation is your contribution to establishing a special microclimate and will help to protect and preserve the local environment.

In recent times, many new plant varieties have been introduced throughmodern production methods and the work of plant breeders, resulting in plants which are attractive and hardy but which are non-invasive. These may be plants which are sterile or rarely produce seed. Many new varieties have low water needs or are tolerant of the air pollution found in the urban environment. In this way the nursery industry is contributing to the elimination of damaging or invasive species.

Purchasing plants from markets and other dubious sources, as well as plant swapping and trading between friends may also result in inadvertent movement of environmental and/or declared or noxious weeds.