IN THE NEWS, Thursday 8 March 2012

Be Plant Wise Trail

The Be Plant Wise campaign is supported by the National Botanic Gardens, and was launched on Thursday the 8th March, 2012 by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The campaign highlights the actions gardeners can take to prevent aquatic plants in their ponds from getting into the wild.

There are also many other common garden plants which we should guard against escaping into the wild. We have highlighted 16 of these in the National Botanic Gardens as part of a trail to draw attention to the problems they cause.

	Common Name	Scientific name
	American skunk cabbage	Lysichiton americanus
	Bamboo	Sasa palmata
	Cotoneaster	Cotoneaster horizontalis and C. integrifolius
	Curly waterweed	Lagarosiphon major
	Giant Rhubarb	Gunnera tinctoria
	Himalayan balsam	Impatiens glandulifera
	Hottentot Fig	Carpobrotus edulis
	Japanese Rose	Rosa rugosa
	New Zealand pigmyweed	Crassula helmsii
	Pheasant’s Tail Grass or New Zealand Wind Grass	Anemanthele lessoniana (syn. Stipa arundinacea)
	Pirri pirri bur	Acaena novae- zealandica
	Rhododendron	Rhododendron ponticum
	Salmonberry	Rubus spectabilis
	Sea Buckthorn	Hippophae rhamnoides
	Spanish Bluebell	Hyacinthoides hispanica
	Three cornered leek	Allium triquetrum

All responsible gardeners should:

• Compost with care – make sure you dispose of discarded plants properly; pond and fish tank water should be discarded away from streams, rivers, ponds or lakes;
  
  
• Stop the spread – be careful not to introduce invasive species into the wild, even accidentally, as you could be breaking the law; and
  
  
• Know what you grow – pick the right plants for your pond and manage them carefully. Choose non-invasive species where possible.

Further information on how to ‘Be Plant Wise’ can be found on the Invasive Species Ireland website at http://invasivespeciesireland.com/what-can-i-do/be-plant-wise/