We’re all spending lots of time at home this year, with many people making the most of the restrictions by getting out into the garden.
Our Conservation team have helped us choose some of the most common plants in backyards -all of which are classed as environmental weeds in Victoria, meaning they are invasive and threatening to our native environment.
Conservation Leading Hand Rachael Beecham said it’s important to remove weeds growing in your garden because they can spread kilometres away from your home.
“Birds, wind and water all spread the seed from weeds for kilometres, which is why it’s so important to remove them from your garden.”
Weed of the Month:
Shade or Fairy Crassula – Crassula multicava subsp multicava
Where it’s from: Native to Southern Africa
Crassula is a spreading to suberect succulent with cream to pink four petalled flowers. It flowers mostly in spring and is drought and shade tolerant. Like most succulents, this plant easily roots and spreads from leaves that fall or break off from the mother plant. They also propagate themselves by producing plantlets on the flowerhead that drop off and develop into independent plants.
This makes it a serious threat to our native environments. Populations are spreading into dry eucalypt forests and other woodlands, dry coastal vegetation and rocky outcrop vegetation.
Shade or Fairy Crassula is another popular garden plant because of its pretty flowers and extremely low maintenance requirements. Shade crassula is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria.
“Environmental weeds displace and smother the indigenous species of the area which can in turn impact on native fauna’s habitat and populations.”
“Once established in our native environments, these weeds become a time-consuming and costly project to remove. Once they invade areas like cliffs they become almost impossible to remove.”
“The Environmental Weeds of the Surf Coast Shire booklet has great information on correct disposal methods for each weed. You can download it via this link: https://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/Environment/Natural-environment/Local-plants/Weeds-of-the-Surf-Coast.”
Great Ocean Road Coast Committee Blog 