What annoys me is how these 'experts' tarnish all species and cvs with the same brush. Facts have proven that not all Lantanas are a threat to the bush.

Also why have these 'experts' allowed an extention to nurseries to trade their remaining stocks until the end of August? Surely this is barmy? If Lantana really was such a threat as they keep hyping us up about, then why havent they ordered nurserymen to destroy their stocks in exchange for some compensation payment?

The whole thing stinks. These 'experts' are control freaks, saying what we can and cant grow and its bullsh*t!

It wont work here. I say tell them to P*** off!

Here is a link:

Ive heard from a reputable nurseryman that Agapanthus will be next! Time to buy the stocks methinks.

Stupid do-gooders in control!

theres no point getting rude about this issue.
the people who impose these laws are knowledgable on this topic, that is why they have their jobs.

What you will find in this situation is.
1. They have implemented the precautionary principle in which the 'if in doubt - dont' rule has been applied
and
2. Would you think its fair for the eastern nurseries to be disallowed whilst the western nurseries profit?

Additionally Lantana isnt just Lantana, there are many various genotypes. The ones you have may just be in fact benign types. If the government continued to allow more nursery material to be imported into WA then the gene pool of the wild plants (be they few or numerous) will continue to be stronger and varied, resulting in genotypes which are more suitable to marginal country.

Also you cant convince me that Lantana wouldnt become a weed in the SW of Western Australia. Sure it might not be an issue in the rest of the 70% of the Perth area but what about the wetter regions? As mentioned there are a myriad of other species to grow, sometimes you just have to accept the facts and get on with it.

In summary, your not going to convinced anyone if you portray your arguement in the manner which you currently are.

regards Kris

"2. Would you think its fair for the eastern nurseries to be disallowed whilst the western nurseries profit?"

absolutely, if nurseries in qld and nsw are still growing it for sale then they deserve a serious kick up the behind.

"If the government continued to allow more nursery material to be imported into WA then the gene pool of the wild plants (be they few or numerous) will continue to be stronger and varied"

I doubt it would be economical to ship lantana plants to wa, and youre not going to have a queue of people lining up to buy this *rare* plant :), it would be cheaper for the nurseries to toss out their stock rather than go to the expense of having the plants treated, shipped and inspected on arrival only to find that most of the plants would be dead by the time they arrived.

In WA if a plant is declared here, you can not buy it or import from anywhere, we have a regulated system when importing plants to the state, so why dont the other states enforce a similar thing for their weed species?

"Also you cant convince me that Lantana wouldnt become a weed in the SW of Western Australia. Sure it might not be an issue in the rest of the 70% of the Perth area but what about the wetter regions?"

the wetter regions might get a bit more rain in winter but they are still dry as a bone for most of the year and they also experience frosts. Lantana has been grown over here for decades and decades and if it was going to be a problem, it would already have happened long ago. The vast majority of wa falls into a very dry mediterranean climate, and the much drier semi arid/arid regions, totally different from the eastern states.

"As mentioned there are a myriad of other species to grow"

I think youll find this is the reason lantana is so popular over here because we are very restricted in what we can grow because of limiting factors such as a very dry climate that has been in drought for a number of years, very long hot summers which last up to 6 months, and in many urban areas the soils are very poor sandy coastal soils which are like dust for most of the year, so any plant that will actually survive and flower in our long hot dry summers is going to be a popular choice because its darn hard to grow anything over here on minimal water.

The thing is, I had heard a long time ago that L camara wasnt sold here anymore, and I cant even remember the last time I saw it for sale, so I dont think this ban is going to make any difference to us. it sounds like some of the state agric depts have just been very lax in enforcing a ban in their states on problem plants. maybe the wa nurseries are just used to following a stricter plant scheme but if nurseries over here made noises about their right to sell a declared weed, it just wouldnt fly with the ag dept.

Until you come up with some real researched information, I shall take your opinions very lightly.

Lantana is not a threat to the most of WA, yet the PC do-gooders who are the 'experts straight out of uni' tell us otherwise?

If I want to be annoyed about this issue, then I shall be until some truth comes out of it!