Trees for Weeds Straddie and Bay Islands

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Sat 15 Aug 2015

Come and enjoy the magic of watching obnoxious weeds transmute into magnificent plants. You can kiss your ugly weeds goodbye and watch them transform into beautiful native trees and have all this happen in five beautiful island locations. The Redlands City Council is holding its Weeds for Trees c elebrations on North Stradbroke, Coochiemudlo, Karragarra, Macleay and Russell Islands on Saturday 15 August, 2015 with the local Bushcare Groups.

Island residents can weed their gardens and collect the residue of their efforts into plastic shopping bags. Then, for each shopping bag of weeds brought along to the Bushcare Groups on the various islands, each bag of weeds can be swapped for a native plant; the swapping will continue for up to five local native plants per person. This is a serious effort to rid the Redlands of unruly, invasive weeds that threaten native wildlife and habitats.

Entry to all the events is FREE.

Doesn't matter which island you are on, on the day you'll be able to drop your weeds and collect your trees. So, on Saturday 15 August 2015 the five locations to be open from 8.30am until 10.30am are:

Bushcarers are going to be at each location, ready, willing and able to give all the necessary advice on identifying and removing weeds from local gardens and replacing those bags of weeds with suitable native trees.

Trees for Weeds Day is all about education and helping you to create a garden supportive of local flora and removing detrimental weeds permanently from the scene. Make sure you talk with the Bushcarers about your garden's plants especially if you suspect they are weeds – for the best opportunity to identify any suspects bring along a plant cutting or photo.

It's a known fact some common garden plants are actually extremely invasive and prolific weeds and, when they escape the garden into the surrounding bushland, they often prevail over the native habitat. By removing as many weeds as possible and replacing them with easy to keep native plants you'll be doing the environment and yourself a huge favour.

Your shopping bags can be filled with any weeds at all but the focus this year is on Mother of Millions and Mile a Minute.

Here's how you can identify them:

Mother-of-millions are native to Madagascar with five species naturalised in Queensland. It is well adapted to dry areas because of its succulent features. As the name suggests, one plant reproduces a new generation from masses of embryoids (plantlets) formed on the leaf edges. This makes them hard to eradicate and follow up controls are essential. Mother-of-millions are erect, smooth, fleshy succulent plants growing to a metre or more in height. All species form tall flower spikes in winter with clusters of bell-shaped flowers. Each species has a distinctive leaf shape, but all produce small plantlets along the edges of the leaves. These plantlets drop readily, develop roots and establish quickly to form a new colony.

Mile-a-minute (or Coastal Morning Glory) is capable of very rapid growth. It is becoming common in coastal areas, where it smothers other vegetation, particularly along river banks. With a twining growth habit, this species creeps along the ground in the absence of supporting structures. Significant infestations of this weed lead to reductions in biodiversity through the destruction of native vegetation. This, in turn, leads to the displacement of certain native animals due to habitat destruction. Mile-a-minute can be distinguished from similar species by the deeply divided leaves with 5 to 7 lobes. Its funnel-shaped flowers are lavender in colour, with a deeper coloured throat. Coastal morning glory displays vigorous growth and develops into a thick, covering mat of vegetation, sometimes climbing 4 to 5 metres into the canopy.

For more information on this extraordinary way to improve your island paradise and help eradicate the weeds impacting on your garden and the Islands' environments contact Indigiscapes on 3824 8611 or visit www.indigiscapes.com.au.

#community_events
#coochiemudlo_island
#environment
#family_attractions
#free
#gardening
#karragarra_island
#macleay_island
#moreton_bay
#near_brisbane
#north_stradbroke_island
#redland
#russell_island
#august
!date 15/08/2015 -- 15/08/2015
%wnbrisbane