The topic of weed potential
Diggers Member:
Hi team, I was in the shop at Heronswood yesterday and purchased 2 pretty climbing plants.
When I got home and googled more information I found that this plant is considered invasive in the US.
Can you please confirm whether this is safe to plant as the last thing I want to do is add to weed problems down here on the Peninsula?
Diggers Hort Advisor:
I am just touching base in response to your email expressing concerns regarding the weed potential of Ampelopsis brevipedunculata.
We appreciate your concern and weed potential is definitely a concern we share and take into consideration when making selections for our range.
Classifying weeds is a complex matter and we keep abreast of the changing lists of local State and National Government Environmental and Noxious Weeds lists to ensure we follow current legislation.
Please know we follow the advice of government environmental agencies carefully.
This genus and species is not currently an environmental or noxious weed in Australia. We have not found this plant to have been problematic in our trials and garden settings and find it a useful and garden-worthy addition to the vegetable garden as a pollinator attractor as well as being quite beautiful.
Legislation and weed potential vary greatly from state to state and country to country and while it is good to monitor situations internationally, we are careful to strictly follow local regulations.
Australian weed assessment methods are very thorough and the process dynamic so we are guided by and keep abreast of the Government agencies that update the status of plants on an ongoing basis as it is a serious responsibility.
I attach the Australian Government webpage link which outlines the processes in case you would like to delve more deeply at a local level as it is very interesting.
I hope you find all this information useful, it is certainly a worthwhile conversation.