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The national 'Plant Me Instead' campaign launched this spring encourages gardeners to remove 'bad' invasive alien plants (IAPs) and plant ecologically 'good' colourful, water wise flowering plants.
Which are the 'bad' plants flowering in your garden this weekend?
Category 1 invasive alien plants are the worst and by law they must be removed and destroyed. The spring-flowering invader plants to look out for this weekend include the single-bloomed oleander (Nerium oleander), lantana (Lantana camera), Mexican ageratum (Ageratum houstinanum), most Cestrum species (yellow, orange, crimson and inkberry), wild tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), red sesbania (Sesbania punicea), potato creeper (Solanum seaforthianum), Spanish broom (Spartium junceum) bugweed (Solanum mauretianum) as well as the Chinese and pink tamarisk (Tamarix chinensis & T. ramosissima).
Category 1 invasive alien spring-flowering climbing plants include the yellow flowering cat's claw creeper (Macfadyena unguis-cati), blue passion flower (Passiflora caerulea) and bananadilla flower (P. mollissima).
Good plants
Which environmentally friendly, good plants should you plant in your garden this weekend? Try these:
- Annuals for sun: Marigolds thrive in full sun and come in shades of orange, yellow, mahogany and even cream. Petunias need six hours of sun a day and hate 'wet feet'. Like verbena, both need well-drained soil, sun, heat and good air circulation.
- Annuals for shade: With ordinary impatiens under the cloud of the downy mildew invasion this season, gardeners are being encouraged to plant either New Guinea impatiens or begonias. New Guineas like some morning sun but afternoon shade or filtered shade under trees. They and are ideal for containers in the garden and on the patio, or as middle-of-the-border plants. Begonias have waxy leaves which means they do really well in shady borders, but can take a few hours of afternoon sun.
- Perennials: Try indigenous diascia in many shades of pink, red, and even orange or the indigenous blue kingfisher daisy (Felicia amelloides) which thrives in full sun. Growing to 10cm in height, water wise gazanias flower continuously from spring to late autumn with dazzling effect, but need full sun all day. Try the carpet geranium (Geranium incanum) with purple blooms or the summer-flowering arum varieties which come in black, chocolate, red, pink, as well as yellow and orange.
- Climbers: Try star jasmine with highly fragrant white blooms for half sun positions and for really hot spots – bougainvillea in a range of colours.
- Shrubs: Try brunfelsia with highly fragrant purple, mauve and white blooms, indigenous buddlejas with fragrant butterfly-attracting cream or mauve flowers, yellow-bloomed euryops (E. pectinatus & E. virgineus), blue-flowered freylinia, white- to mauve- flowered mackaya bella or even the indigenous pelargonium in every shade of pink, orange and red.
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