Many of the plants included in the species profiles of environmental weeds have escaped from gardens into the bush. Some additional species which have not been included in the weed profiles because they are not yet widely established as weeds on the south coast are listed below. They are all garden plants which have either shown they are able to naturalise (that is, to become established without human assistance) on the south coast but are not yet widespread, or they have become serious weeds in other areas with similar climate.

Plants with seed which is spread by birds are in capitals. If they are already in your garden, please think about replacing them with something less likely to spread. It should be obvious from the number of bird-spread species listed in the weed profiles that this is a plant category which should be avoided in gardens, regardless of whether those gardens are close to native vegetation or not. Because birds are highly mobile they can transport seed into bush even from the middle of a concrete jungle. Other types of potentially weedy garden plants can be safely grown by gardeners who do not live close to native vegetation or waterways, as long as they follow some simple rules like not dumping garden waste, and not passing on plants to friends who do live close to bush.

You will notice that some of the plants listed here are Australian natives. These can become environmental weeds, if they are planted outside the area where they occur naturally, or in some cases, even within their natural range. In fact they may be more dangerous to native vegetation than some exotic species because they are already adapted to Australia’s poor soils, and to reproducing after fire. Plantations of Australian trees and shrubs from other areas have spread into the surrounding native vegetation on an impressive scale after fires in Victoria.

Some of these species are even naturally occurring locally, for example, coast wattle. However, this plant naturally only grows on sand very close to the sea. If planted outside this narrow habitat range, it can spread into other types of vegetation, where it may come to dominate the understorey, to the detriment of the other plants living there. Some other local plants can also behave in a weedy fashion as a result of changes to land management, such as clearing of forest or reduction in frequency of burning. Examples are bracken, and the shrubs blackthorn (Bursaria spinosa) and burgan (Kunzea ericoides) and the small tree, sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum). Sweet pittosporum’s spread has been assisted by its popularity as a garden plant.

The subject of weedy native plants is covered in more detail in that section of the website.