About this site
Bushland-friendly gardens is an initiative of the Weeds CRC. We hope to provide a central location on the internet to help you make more informed, environmentally friendly choices about the plants you use in your garden, nursery or parkland.

In Australia there are around 3,000 non-local plants that have 'escaped' from gardens and are finding new homes in native bushland. Many of these plants have no natural enemies in Australia. This can mean that they are able to grow and spread very rapidly, out-competing native plants for space, light, water and nutrients - just like weeds in your garden. In time, this can result in fewer native plant species and less natural food and shelter for our native animals such as possums, butterflies and birds.

From beauties to beasts
When plants have these negative impacts on our flora and fauna we call them 'weeds' or 'invasive plants'. As these plants are affecting the natural environment negatively, we call them 'environmental weeds'. They may be introduced by accident - with seeds or plant pieces spread around the countryside by animals, birds, humans, cars or boats. They may be intentionally introduced by people when they dump garden or aquarium waste, or by those who actually encourage the spread of plants from their gardens into the bush in the mistaken belief that they can do no harm. It is crucial to realise that those beautiful plants from your garden can become a serious problem to our natural environment when they make their homes there.

How you can stop the spread
We hope to help stop this spread of non-local plants from gardens into bushland by highlighting on this website the plants that are most likely to cause problems to the animals and plants in native bushland in your region. Where available we have also provided links to further information on the background and control of the 'weedy' plants as well as websites that give information on alternative plant choices.

By choosing garden plants wisely we can help our native flora and fauna survive for future generations to enjoy.

Weed replacement plants for use by frugivorous birds
For information on providing alternative food resources for fruit-eating birds (NE NSW or SE Qld, or replacement options for fleshy-fruited Weeds of National Significance) please visit Project 3.2.3.1 Selecting weed replacement plants for use by frugivorous birds.