I’M A WEED

Bridal Veil

Bridal Veil

Asparagus declinatus

Scrambling, perennial shrub with green, wiry, multi-branched stems to 3 m long. Foliage dies back over winter, regenerating each year from underground tubers. Leaves are bluegreen, needle-like, 0.3-1 cm long in
dense groups of three. Flowers are small, white, and inconspicuous, from August to September. Fruit are berries ripening to light green by early summer. Roots form an extensive mat of tubers.

Asparagus weeds are sometimes found in bush around towns and farms where birds spread the fruits from gardens.

Threat / Problem
• Very competitive, smothers native vegetation. Tuber mats make a thick barrier just below the soil surface limiting moisture and nutrients for other plants.

Spread
• Seed dispersed by birds, foxes, rabbits and in mud on animals, clothing and machinery. New plants grow from broken pieces of the root system.

Control
• Herbicide is most effective in Spring, after flowering, when tubers are depleted, before fruit forms.
• If manually removing individual plants, ensure all rhizome are removed and disposed of in a waste facility.
• Spot spray larger infestations.

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Bridal Veil

GROW ME INSTEAD

Old Man Beard

Old Man’s Beard

Clematis microphylla

Twining woody climber with sparse foliage. Leaves usually as three oblong leaflets 0.8-3 cm long.

In spring the plants are covered with masses of attractive greenish-cream star shaped flowers 1.5-2.5 cm long. Male and female flowers are on different plants. Female flowers develop into clusters of fluffy seeds with long feathery plumes which give the plant its name. Can be grown as ground cover or climber but only gives sparse foliage cover. Naturally they climb over other trees or shrubs.

Old Man’s Beard