We've got some really tough and beautiful native plants we can use instead. I wish people would get that into their heads!

Totally.

The article didn't really mention why they're so popular? I'm guessing low maintenance and they look good-enough. I gotta imagine there's a bunch of good alternatives tho. So yeh, just stop selling them lol

Weed is a word that some people don't take overly seriously. Even 'invasive' can be discounted because they feel they can contain the growth. Some people don't even read the tag properly. The best solution, imo, is to not sell them at all, full stop.

It sounds like it's already classified as "invasive". I wonder what the additional "weed" classification adds? I also would have expected invasive to be a stronger classification than weed

Enjoy! 😆

What if I like mucking about in the dirt?

I haven't looked up anything y'all posted here yet. But in general yea I had good luck finding things domestically.

The bambara beans I got from west africa off of etsy and customs was none the wiser.

Wow, for real? That expands your options

You need an import license. I've actually had reasonable success finding seeds in Canada.

Where I am we actually worry more about drought and high heat. Like hopefully this year I've set up my bell peppers such that they wont drop their flowers during heat waves.

There’s the banana passionfruit too. It’s yellow. It says it prefers warm temperate to cool temperate but tolerates frosts? I don’t know if it would live. It would really depend on where in Canada.

It says it’s not really available in June and July (at least on that site) and the seeds are out of stock on another site.

https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/buy/passionfruit-banana-vine.htm

https://www.theseedcollection.com.au/banana-passionfruit

The first link says something about quarantine zones within Australia too 🤔 There’s another thought. I don’t know if Canada has any laws or regulations on bringing in fruit or plants from other countries so maybe check that out first before you bring anything in

ooh I've heard of finger limes!!

There’s some here, the bush tomato and finger lime look especially good. And they left off a big favourite, the lilly pilly tree. https://nurturedlife.com.au/bush-tucker-plants/

You’d probably want to research care and growing conditions though because even though Victoria is cool Canada might be even colder and prone to frost.

Edit: These claim to be frost tolerant

https://bushtobowl.com/blogs/bush-to-bowls-blog/bushtucker-plants-for-frost-prone-regions

https://www.australianplantsonline.com.au/plants-for-places/frost-tolerant.html

Yes but we get pretty mild winters where I am. I can also move less hardy plants into a greenhouse if need be.

Honestly even if the plant is impossible for me to grow I'm still interested in hearing about it.

I am just assuming you get snow? If that's the case then Perth has stepped away from the conersation. But... I am fond of the colour of Swan River Daisies.

Canadian here.

Anyone in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth or other zone 7 regions got any unique to Australia crops that I might consider importing for my garden?

edit: I recently started growing Good King Henry, Skirret, and Bambara Beans from west Africa. All of these are perennial food crops that were staples before modern agriculture.

Even if I don't grow them myself I would be very interested to learn of any crops the Aboriginal peoples developed.

Have a read of this: https://invasives.org.au/our-work/weeds/

The article in the post gives you a few of the most common ones but here's a more comprehensive list: https://invasives.org.au/publications/national-list-naturalised-invasive-potentially-invasive-garden-plants-wwf-australia/

@arbilp3 What should we take as invasive plants?

One or two of the flowers have grown back but most pots are being populated with grass and weeds. Wondering if I should plant something. I don’t tend to get high yields of anything but it’s something peaceable to occupy me I guess

Unless it just gets eaten

Awww, what an adorable (and tireless, vigilant, talented) pest patrol you have out yonder! 😍🥳🤙🏼

edit: I wonder if there's a plant that they especially don't like, so that planting it around the perimeter'd discourage them from crossing that boundary —similar to tobacco vs deer, etc. 🤓🤞🏼

Unfortunately for me I only have endangered possums in my area so that's not an option until they come off the list.

I heard these are great eating. Perhaps you could plant a green fodder crop and be growing protein instead.

I have cutworms, slaters, earwigs, slugs, snails, rats and possums here that do this, it's a pain but I find my biggest losses are to the snails and slugs due to the possums and rats being more focused on my fruit trees.

I also rotate my chickens and ducks through beds to keep the insects and slugs/snails under control.

Last time I tried snow peas they (and the golden gem pumpkin plants) were eaten down to stumps 😩

Er no. Ours are considerably cuter and a vast menace to my veggie patch

What? These cuties?! 😱🥹🤫