Re: Was: OLEANDERS, now: xenohortphobia?
At 10:02 AM Thursday 30-11-00 -0800, Sean wrote:
>I don't know the specifics in other areas, but I do know that numerous
>invaders in California do cause problems with regard to habitat loss and
>physical problems (erosion, etc.). Not all exotics are problematic, but
>vigilance is required in our area since we have so many unique
>micro-climates - you never know when a garden plant may finally find a
>niche and take off into the wild landscape. I would temper the attitude
>in South Africa with dealing primarily with those species that are seen to
>be a big problem. Oleanders locally never seem to self-seed or 'escape' -
>I wonder if this is a problem in other places?
Here (east coast of Australia) I've certainly had oleanders self-seed in my
garden. But they don't seem to escape into the bush -- and I've never
noticed them on the "noxious weed" lists where all the problem escapees end
up. Are things different in S Africa? It's hard to believe they would be
on the banned list there unless they were already causing serious problems
-- not just that someone thought they might.
Gees they're hard to kill though!
John.
