Then there was the Spathodea campanulata ( Tulip Tree ) and if that wasn't bad enough I came across pots of that Orange Watsonia weed or whatever it was called that I pulled out of my garden last week, I was chatting to the seller about it, no weed she said its a very pretty Kangaroo Paw, she didn't even know what it was except a pretty flower and will probably sell that pretty flower to someone that does not know. What a shame this is allowed to happen.....Cheers..MM.

a good place for the spreading about of exotic weeds.

on the banana issue unless it has changed you can grow lady finger bananas without any special permit but you can't grow cavendish as they can harbour the buchy top disease, not sure how that can get from a garden into a banana plantation but that is how it was. and if DPI knew you had a cav' in your yard they would come pay a visit chop the offending plant down and spray it with kero'.

tulip tree, cockscomb/coral tree, crucifix orchids, queen palms, down here the alexander palm, jacaranda, beauhinia, bougainvillia the cadigee gum (spelling?) and agave's and broms dumped along country roadsides. just to name but a few won't mention lantana, mother of millions and grounsel.

len

Lynnie your tree is not the African Tulip Tree but you will find this one planted everywhere too, only in peoples gardens beautiful red orange coloured flower. There was a yellow one on our block north of Townsville but they called that one the Hawaiian Tulip Tree and another pretty flower. .....Cheers...MM.

I live up near the Woodridge station and wander down there on a Sunday. Occasssionally pick up something decent, some of it I need and other stuff I do'nt lol.

Len , I think you are right with the Lady Finger bananas but then again they could have changed the rules in the last few years. The Cavendish are certainly a no no in the home garden.

I have added the Link do have a read and let me know if Iam right......Cheers..MM.

tell 'em nuthin' 'n take 'em nowhere i say. what they don't know their tiny little minds won't yearn for. growing lady finger bananas in qld is almost a sacred right until recent times you wouldn't go too far not to find a back yard with a big stand of them. it's part of our culture.

we rented a place in graceville had 5 stands in the back yard at that time i was anti garden and plants just easy to mow lawn, so i dug all the bananas out and carted them to the dump shock horror.

anyway might get me a sucker from here to take to the new place.

yeh tulipwood is a good tree we have some very nice natural specimens on site.

len

this sort of policy is control for controls sake.

len heading back to the big smoke closer now.

but the banana issue is the tip of the iceberg, sooner than later we won't be able to grow any plant in our garden that is used for commercial reasons be it fruit. vegetable or flowers. growers are facing extra costs and rules just to produce to amke money so they fell that gardeners don't come under thei mantle but we can possibly cause problems to their crops. that may be so in the case of fruit fly but as for teh rest?

take citrus growers they themselves caused their problems in the emerald area of qld, buy trying to cut costs and importing unsafe plant grafts, now they have to pay for regular DPI inspections of their orchards, and when they pick their fruit has to be again inspected at the growers cost before it can be sold. from what i hear they want gardeners to come under those same regulations and that we can only grow for our own use not even be able to give it away.

it is happening on the cattle front people in rural would buy some calves from the regular cattle auctions grass graze them to a certain size use some for their own food and sell others to cover that cost, but now you almost can't do that there are regulations and you need an ABN to sell your calves at market as well as pay for DPI testing. and as well as tagging of stock and you being registration to simply move them off your property.

just how i see and hear it, we will be told what we can grow not waht we can't grow.

len

had to reply and tell him that I had actually rung them to get an application and that there were two or three cells of a dwarf ducasse and blue jave currently growing in Nambour for shipment to me later this year. Oficially produced banana plantlets that is.

This is just part of the trend towards increased regulation in all facets of life--from prohibitions on taking photos of children (including your own) in public places, to the need to register cats. Hello brave new world, c.2006 ...

if they are monitoring groups like this that is way over the top realy i think (maybe the e/mail mentioned was a scam??), more like someone has 'dobbed' as this is how these regulations are administerd they rely on neighbours and friend 'dobbing' on neighbours and friends. myself i think there are far too many banana species coming into the country let the farmers have their cav's and the gardener their lady-fingers and if they aren't good enough then grow mangoes or something else. seems to be a trend of gardeners wanting to bring in more and more exotic species as other ones become old fashioned.

what cestrum says is right on the button, worse thing most of the population has blinkers on, only interested in waht happens in the cricket or tennis or whatever.

len

I don't like Big Brother watching, but these days what can you do to stop it. Nearly everything you do, they know, even when they say information isn't kept, I bet some is.

I did get anothr email from a different bloke today about bananas (I'd written to him first) - apparently you can make a special application to grow the seeded and ornamental varieties - but there's a lot of inspections of your property, frequent visits from the banana police etc. too much hassle for me and the boss so I'll stick to lady finger and a couple I've got on order from the tissue culture people in Nambour.

but ther is little chance of lady fingers causing any concern, i've certainly never heard of it but the legal and illigal imported exotics that's another story, only thing is then the regulator casts a big net over the whole subject. eg.,. if they find one citrus in one garden affected by that thingy in emerald then it's going to be goodbye homegrown citrus for us gardeners probably going to be that way anyway.

yes paradisi one could be a garden fan of this group, to me a pretty long shot but anything in life is possible it's whether it is probable? and there are those who maskeraide as something they aren't especially on the net as the net gurantees anonimity. still say as a responsible gardener do what you feel you want to do but tell no one hey. my lips are sealed. it's called bending the rules.

len