Blue and white seem to be a theme today. These are the colours that I have come across today. Most of the flowers are also the flowers of weeds here in Sydney, I’ll explain why they are a weed here as I get to them.
This is the flower of a plant colloquially known as moth vine. Its binomial name is Araujia sericifera. Moth vine is a vine reaching up to 5m in length/height, that is an unfortunately common weed around Sydney and likely elsewhere in Australia.
There are a couple of reasons for the moth vine being weedy. The first is the fact that the leaves are poisonous to humans and animals, as are the seeds. The sap is also an irritant to skin and eyes too. Not really something you want around! Another reason why moth vine is considered a weed is that it can smother native plants quite easily once it starts growing. This isn’t a good thing either as moth vine doesn’t have any beneficial points in terms of food or habitat for native Australian wildlife , so smothering native plants is definitely a disadvantage!
It’s also worth bearing in mind that the fruit of moth vine contains hundreds of seeds that travel on the wind once the fruit splits open. This allows them to spread over a large area, resulting in more hassle than anyone needs trying to remove it!
For removal, I aim to get as many of the roots out of the ground as possible and then cut the roots from the rest of the vine as far from the ground as possible. That’s if you can’t get the rest of the vine out of the fence/tree/other item moth vine is climbing through-get as much as you can, but if the roots are out of the ground, the plant will be causing little drama!
Morning glory has some of the most fabulous flowers going, I have to say. The trouble with the rest of the plant is that it’s a vine with a very quick growth rate that is far more capable of smothering plants a lot quicker and plants a lot bigger than moth vine could possibly imagine overcoming! Great looking flower or not, this plant is a menace here in Sydney and it is painful to remove too. The best treatment is to remove as much as possible and to come back consistently to remove as much as possible until it’s gone. If you can’t, fill the space with plants to provide more competition to this plant, hopefully reducing its dominance.
Below is a flower bud and leaves of morning glory. Again, very pretty flower but ugly plant.
This is another plant that’s more of a menace but with lovely flowers. Plumbago is a plant that seems to grow a few metres every time I blink! While that is a slight exaggeration, it grows too quick for its own good.
Again, honeysuckle flowers are lovely, but the plant can be weedy too. This particular specimen is growing through the plumbago mentioned above.
Gardenia is a plant that is a little boring. Even the white flowers would be boring if it wasn’t for the great smell they give. While I can’t give you the fabulous smell over the internet, I can give a picture .
Finally, I’ll share my roses. They are neither white nor blue, but are incredibly pretty to look at. These have to be my flower of the day, if not the week.
