Weed of the Month: Ground Asparagus Fern(Asparagus aethiopicus ‘Sprengeri’)

Invasive speciesWeedsHi TidingsEnvironment
Written By Angela Hoskins

This article was first published in Hi Tidings in May 2023.

Asparagus fern - weed of national significance as invasive in Australia

By Rae Wear (Rae is from the Native Nursery on Coochiemudlo Island)

This month’s weed is one of 32 WoNS — weeds of national significance — a list of Australia’s most invasive plants identified by federal, state and territory governments. S

It has long, bright green, prickly, arching stems and small pinkish white flowers. These are followed by green berries which turn bright red when ripe. This highly invasive plant came originally from Africa and, like so many weeds, was introduced as an ornamental. It is spread by seed, vegetatively through its entangled root system, and via garden waste dumped in bushland.

More information about this weed can be found at Brisbane City Council Weed Identification Tool.

Native alternatives

Alternative native groundcovers include dianella species, native sarsaparilla (Hardenbergia violacea) or native jasmine (Jasminum didymum).

Angela Hoskins

Built my first site in 2000 and steadily learned what it takes to make websites work. Dabbled in WordPress back then, still do. Since building my first Squarespace site in 2016, I’ve been impressed with the relatively streamlined approach to website design and development that Squarespace offers compared to WordPress. SEO was a major challenge from the start — I’ve spent a lot of time keeping up with what’s required to get sites working, ranking well on a SERP. I have confidence with what Squarespace offers for SEO.

Having worked for more than 10 years in the web team of an inland, regional university in Australia and dealing with frustrations that come with working for a large corporate enterprise, the idea of setting up my own web design business became my goal.

Set up my business in late 2017. Opted for a sea change, too: I now live on Coochiemudlo Island 45 minutes from Brisbane. Love working from home. Love working for small business clients. Still get casual work with the university.

Challenges? The main one is pricing my work for small businesses. Doing quality work, doing the research to be up to date in the industry, takes time; it’s hard to factor in this time to my pricing while being competitive in the market and affordable for many small businesses.

https://sitecontent.com.au
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