‘Ticking time bomb’: Invasive weeds sold at Aussie nurseries wreaking havoc on Australia’s ecosystem

Nurseries across the country, including Bunnings, are selling plants classified as “highly invasive” weeds and one expert says it’s a “ticking-time bomb” for Australia’s bushland and ecosystem.

According to the Invasive Species Council, the majority of Australia’s weeds have escaped from gardens, resulting in at least four plant extinctions and costing the agricultural industry $4.3bn to manage each year.

Invasive Species Council advocacy director Jack Gough said most Australians didn’t realise that often their gardens or fish ponds were the source of highly invasive weeds that were yet to reach their full potential to spread.

While industry bodies are working tirelessly to protect native bushland and Australia’s biodiversity, Mr Gough said many of the 30,000 plants sold in nurseries across the country were ending up in local bushland.

“It’s making a mockery of all the work that gets done by landcare groups, by bushcare groups, by local councils who spend billions and billions of dollars every year trying to deal with weeds around the country,” he said.

“At the same time as they are working hard to remove these problem species choking out the landscape, there are other species being sold that become the next problem.”

With three-quarters of all listed weeds in Australia being escaped garden plants, Mr Gough said legally sold plants like English ivy and gazanias were “suffocating” local bushland.

“They tend to take over areas, they choke them out and they suppress the native plants. Where we’ve got degraded areas, they can stop those areas from regenerating and recovering,” he said.

“Every year the problem gets worse.”

English ivy and gazania are both listed as “highly invasive” on the Victorian government’s advisory list of environmental weeds, yet both the non-native plants are readily available at nurseries across the country.

Described as “hardy and tough”, gazania seeds are sold for $5.50 at Bunnings.

Bunnings merchandise director Cam Rist said “like many nurseries and retailers”, Bunnings sold a “wide range of locally sourced plants across our stores”.

“We work hard to create an assortment that caters to customer preferences and demand,” he said.

“As always, we closely follow all relevant local biosecurity regulations and the advice of regulators about the plants we sell.”

Mr Gough said the selling of invasive weeds was not just a “Bunnings problem” but an “industry-wide problem”.

While Nursery and Garden Industry Australia has set up Grow Me Instead, a database that informs gardeners and nurseries on what plants are safe to buy and sell, Mr Gough said governments had been “conned” in believing self-regulation by the industry was the answer.

“It’s completely unreasonable to expect everyday Australian gardeners to get down and read all the fine print to know where and when they should be planting something,” he said.

“This is something that should be driven by government, having clear regulation of the industry, so that Australian gardeners know when they turn up at their local Bunnings or their local nursery … they’re not going to end up turning their garden into a ticking time bomb for the local bushland.”

Mr Gough welcomed Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s “leadership” in convincing all state and territory environment ministers to agree to develop a national plan to tackle the growing problem.

“We’re very hopeful that this will be the first step towards effective regulation,” he said.

“There are thousands of safe plants available, which will allow people to have amazing, diverse gardens.

“The gardening and nursery industry will still prosper without causing new weeds to spread around this country, but to achieve that, we need regulation from the top.”